Uhria
by June Odyssey
Summary: Mortifero Morbo means deadly illness, that's also what it is. Sheppard catches it, of course. Will he be cured in time? And who is behind it? Planetary war, rebel forces, and bio weapons. Just another Pegasus week. Mostly Beckett, Lorne, Sheppard, with a dash of Sentient!Atlantis. Previously titled MORTIFERO MORBO.
1. Hello

**Author's Note; I was planning on a prequel to Criminal Offense (previously How to Fail Escape Attempts) first but I am still ironing out those details. Until then I decided to post this sequel first. Criminal Offense is not needed to understand but I do make a few references to it.**

**Please enjoy the Shep whump and humanization of Atlantis.**

Carson wanted to bash his head on the table. He refrained from bashing his head, however, because he had suddenly started to hear the humming vibrations of the Ancient City much clearer now, after he'd had a frustrating bout of the inability to concentrate. Carson was currently trying to decide if the hum was going to give him a headache or not.

_Carson..._

Carson looked around trying to guess who was calling. Dr. Cole was currently checking on Lt. Andrews who had bashed his head on a rock accidentally his last mission. Other than them the infirmary was quiet.

_Carson._

_Who is that?_ Carson wondered.

_Hi!_

Seeing no one else speaking Carson was understandably confused. _Am I going insane?_

Amusement not his own wafted over him like a sweet smell. _No Carson. I assure you, you have not gone insane._

_Who is this?_

_I am Atlantis, it has taken longer than I had hoped to connect with you._

Carson couldn't believe what he was hearing... thinking. He probably should ask how it was possible but all that came out was, _You wanted to connect with me? Why not Colonel Sheppard or, or Major Lorne?_

_I already have. I tried to connect with you while you were imprisoned by Argrose but it was quite difficult when I was at the same time trying to help the Colonel and the Major prevent me from being overrun._

_Okay. _Carson didn't actually understand but he hoped the voice in his head claiming to be Atlantis would elaborate.

_On top of that you work a lot and I didn't want to distract you so I have had to continuously build up the connection over the last few weeks._

_Why did – _

– _I need to connect with you?_

_Aye._

_Because with the amount of scrapes John gets into and the injuries he hides I thought it prudent to be connected to you._

_That makes sense. _Carson admitted. If, in fact, he actually was connected to Atlantis who was in turn connected to Colonel Sheppard it would relieve half the amount of stress from he shoulders. _In that case, I'm glad to meet you._

Carson felt a warm wave of pleasure that he was pretty sure he could interpret as a smile.

Just then his radio clicked to life with Dr. Elizabeth Weir worried, _"Medical team to the Jumper Bay!"_

Carson's flash of worry mingled with his new friend.

_I had hoped we wouldn't be testing this team work so soon._

_Aye, well at least you got in soon enough, lass. Let's go see what's wrong with the Colonel this time._

__**Please, please, please review!**


	2. Sick

_Sheesh, I'm fine. They don't have to baby me._

Carson was initially surprised to hear Colonel Sheppard's voice when he was only half way to the Jumper Bay, until Atlantis explained that when she was connected to both of them they could also 'hear' each other as well, if she chose to let them.

_Is he really fine?_ Carson asked, knowing that Sheppard's team wouldn't have called for a medical team if he was fine.

_No, he feels sick and I doubt he will make it to the infirmary without passing out,_ Atlantis reported.

Rounding the door, Carson understood why. The man in question was deathly pale and leaning against the open hatch of Jumper 1.

"What's wrong?" Carson demanded upon taking in the Colonel's pallor.

"Nothing," John said at the same Rodney said, "He's sick."

Carson nodded, agreeing with Rodney's assessment. "Come on Colonel, you're going to have a stay in my infirmary for a while."

Though John knew as well as anyone that he had no proof to say it wasn't necessary and all the reason that it was, he complained, "That's not necessary, doc."

_Yes it is._

Normally Carson would have attributed John's expression of annoyance to his statement but now he understood it was Atlantis. Taking John's arm, he started to pull him toward the door with minimal protest, which only gave Carson more cause for concern. Looking over his shoulder, he gave Ronon a meaningful look.

The Satedan nodded and and followed closely behind, ready to catch his friend if need be.

Teyla and Rodney followed.

John himself was stumbling along well enough but his eyes had become unfocused and his face even more ashen. Carson's only consolation was that he wasn't looking green.

_Carson? _came Atlantis' soft whisper of a thought, concern radiating from her.

_What is it, lass?_

_The bio sensors has confirmed that he isn't carrying a virus but there is something foreign there. The sensors aren't sensitive enough to recognize it, though._

_All right, we'll get him under a scanner as soon as we get to the infirmary._

_By the way, he is about to pass out._

Snapping out of his conversation and returning his attention to John, Carson saw that Atlantis was right. "Ronon," he called over his shoulder.

Ronon took two long strides and caught John just as he tripped over his own feet and finally lost consciousness.

"Daft fellow," Carson muttered. "We're almost there."

Ronon responded by flipping his team leader easily over his shoulder.

Behind them Teyla and Rodney exchanged concerned glances.

"He's going to be okay, right?" Rodney asked worriedly.

"I won't know until we get him under a scanner." Carson decided to be truthful but not tell them he didn't think the Colonel's stay would be short and painless.

When the reached the infirmary Carson had Ronon place John on the scanner bed and ushered the team out of the infirmary. Working quickly, Carson started the scanner and called Dr. Cole to take and run a blood sample. Once he had settled John, Carson turned his attention to Atlantis who had been waiting patiently for him to finish. _Alright, have you got anything?_

_The scanner says he has a bite mark his ankle, possibly the source of his illness. There is a large amount of a foreign substance in his bloodstream. Again, the scanner's sensitivity is not high enough to get any specific readings, though._

_Well the blood test should tell us something... Why didn't you connect to me before? You're quite useful,_ Carson said as he confirmed Atlantis report with the tablet in his hands.

Something Carson identified as embarrassment rolled in. _Uh... well, at first we were still getting to know each other and, he, uh, was quite opposed to the idea of connecting to you... although I was tempted during the retrovirus incident, but I couldn't connect to his mind at the time and I didn't want to distract you. It never seemed entirely necessary._

Carson smiled, despite knowing the city was sentient for all of ten minutes, he got the feeling that she didn't normally stutter or become embarrassed. _It's alright, luv. I honestly haven't had much of a love for ancient technology either._

_That too,_ Atlantis chuckled.

_I guess all we can do is watch and wait for the tests, _Carson said, returning to the earlier subject.

_I'll tell you if he gets restless or if there is a noticeable change in his condition, _Atlantis told him.

_We should've done this earlier,_ Carson groaned, thinking of how much easier dealing with his most frequent patient could have been.

Atlantis was amused.


	3. Incurable

**A/N It took a little longer than I'd hoped to post this but here it is. Big thanks to Amycat8733 for beta.**

* * *

"Carson, I have those test results." Dr. Maggie Cole announced.

Carson thanked her and took the tablet. "I don't recognize this bacterium." He said aloud scanning through the data. "Right, let's see if we can find something in the database about this. But first, let's update his team and Dr. Weir."

As he began to stand Maggie held up a hand, "I'll tell them, Carson," Maggie offered. "You go ahead and start looking."

"Thanks, lass." Carson smiled as he sat back down in his chair.

Maggie nodded and left for the waiting room as Carson turned back to his desk. He connected the tablet to the laptop and booted up the laptop. ___Alright Atlantis, this is your database, I'm assuming you can run this through and find out what it is?_

___I can... Carson, John has not come even close to awakening in the last four hours._

___I know, it has me worried too, but all we can do is figure out what this is right now._

___Give me a few minutes to sift through the data, I'll have it._

Carson nodded, forgetting that Atlantis was in his head and not in front of him. ___Good, good._

True to her promise, Atlantis came up with the answer only few minutes later.

Carson's brow furrowed as he read Atlantis' rough but concise translation of the text describing the bacteria found in John's blood. Carson stood up fast enough to send the chair sliding backwards. Not paying it any mind, Carson jogged over to the part of the infirmary that was occupied by what Carson now knew was someone very close to being comatose.

"Dr. Weir!" Carson called, grabbing the attention of the five people standing by John's bed.

"Have you found something already, Carson?" Elizabeth asked, surprised.

"Aye, I got lucky." Carson lied.

"Well, don't keep us hanging." Rodney snapped without giving Carson the chance to continue speaking, earning him a scolding look from Teyla.

"Teyla, Ronon, have ye heard of a sickness called Mortifero Morbo?" Carson asked, hoping that not only would he not have to explain what was ailing their friend, but that the two Pegasus natives knew of the cure.

Ronon and Teyla exchanged a glance but, naturally, it was Teyla who spoke. "Yes, it is a rare sickness that causes one to go into a deep sleep for a day or so." Teyla faltered, realizing why Carson was asking.

Ronon picked up where she left off. "Then they'll wake up in extreme pain and eventually die."

"Are you saying that John has this?" Elizabeth asked.

Carson could tell she was trying desperately to keep her professional mask on, but Carson could tell it was slipping from the way her breath hitched before John's name.

"Aye, I'm afraid so."

"Well, what's the cure, how do we get him better?" Rodney asked, talking more slowly than usual out of worry.

Carson took a deep breath. "According to this... there is no cure."


	4. Hope

**I'm really sorry I took so long! I had to figure out exactly where I was going with it but I've at least got it mostly figured out. Thank you so much Amycat8733 for beta on this!**

* * *

The four present sucked in a breath at Carson's announcement.

"Carson, are you absolutely sure that is what this is?" Elizabeth asked.

_Yes, there is nothing else it could be._ Atlantis told him, grief rolling off her.

"Yes."

"So there's nothing we can do?" Rodney asked.

There was a heavy silence before Teyla spoke. "There is something."

The whole room turned toward her, everyone's gaze filled with hope.

"My father once spoke of this illness. He told me of a man who discovered the cure many years ago. I believe I remember the correct world. It was only a rumor and a very unlikely one but..."

"It's all we've got." Elizabeth finished.

"Aye. I'll be coming with ye if ye don't mind. If he has the cure then I should be there. Dr. Cole is more than capable of caring for the Colonel until we get back." Carson announced.

"Alright. Take Lorne and his team." Elizabeth said.

The group broke apart to gear up, a new hope replacing their former depression.

_Are you absolutely sure there is no cure in the database?_ Carson asked Atlantis, more for the sake of asking than the belief that there was more to be found than what Atlantis had already given him.

_Yes, Carson, I am sure. There is no reference of a cure and we do not have enough time to explore possible treatments._ Atlantis explained, though Carson already knew this.

_While I'm gone why don't you do as much looking into anything that may be helpful as you can? That way if this fails we'll at least have a starting point._

* * *

They had been searching for the majority of a desperately slow day. Everyone they inquired to about the cure to Mortifero Morbo flapped an unconcerned hand in their direction and told them it was a rumor and to say goodbye to their friend. It took all of Carson's self restraint and more not to start a Rodney-like rant about not giving up on people so easily. Instead he clamped his mouth shut, bit his tongue, and walked away without a word. Curt, yes, but a) they deserved it, and b) it was better than making a fool of himself.

"You should be saying your goodbyes to your friend, Mister. So unless you're here to buy something then you'd best get out of here."

Carson and Major Lorne turned away from the stall, disappointed yet again. "We should radio the other teams and see if they've have had any better luck." Carson suggested, knowing full well that if anyone had anything they would have called immediately.

Evan nodded and tapped his radio. "This is Major Lorne has anyone found anything?"

"_I am afraid not, Major." _Teyla responded. _"Lieutenant Kemp and I have found no information of the disease."_

"_No such luck here either." _Rodney announced on behalf of himself and Ronon.

"_Nothing to report, sir." _Lt. Cadman answered for herself and Captain Rogers.

Carson and Evan shared a despaired look. "We should head back to Atlantis and report to Weir. Hopefully we can come back later."

Carson stared at the ground as they walked toward the edge of the village. A stone arch cut out of the wall that ran around the whole village served as the gate. They made it outside the village and not a second after the thick wooden gates closed, bright blue shrouded their field of vision and grew into a blinding white that caused them to squeeze their eyes shut. Unresponsive bodies hit the ground.

* * *

"Rodney, where are Carson and Major Lorne?" Elizabeth asked when the Stargate closed behind the six returning people.

"We don't know. Major Lorne told us to fall back to the 'Gate but they never showed." Rodney replied.

"We searched throughout the village, but we could not locate them and no one saw anything." Teyla added.

Elizabeth sighed, "Alright we'll have to keep looking, in the meantime you can keep inquiring about this disease. Dr. Cole is continuing Colonel Sheppard's care and she hasn't radioed any change."

"We're gonna go check on him anyway." Ronon announced. Without waiting, he left the Gate room with his team mates on his heels to see his friend.


	5. Hike

******************Okay, unfortunately my muse saw it fit to disobey orders and head out into Pegasus without authorization. I blame her for the plot twist and for the fact that Atlantis sadly has to take a back seat for now. But there is only so much you can do in the city so here we go!**

* * *

Carson and Evan returned to a dimly lit world and both propped themselves up.

"You okay, doc?" Evan questioned, taking in the Scot next to him.

"I think I'm alright, lad." Carson answered, looking himself over as well as the major.

"Any idea who these people are?" Evan asked, now scanning the room.

"I'm afraid not, Major. I saw as much as you did."

Evan nodded, taking in the wooden shed, floor covered with bits of straw, with a few low-burning candles mounted on the wall.

Carson had been about to suggest they get up and look around when the door banged open and five men marched in, causing Carson and Evan hustled to their feet immediately. Four of the men were mentally dubbed guards by both captives and the one who stood in the middle dubbed leader.

"Who are you?" Carson demanded at once.

"My name is Hakes. You are searching for a cure, are you not?" The leader replied.

"We are. Do you have it?" Evan answered, eying the guards.

"No, but we know who does. He will not do business with us, however." Hakes replied.

"And why is that?" Carson inquired.

Hakes took a deep breath, preparing for the explanation. "My world is at war with itself, two factions warring for domination. Our leader has fallen ill with the Mortifero Morbo, and if he is not cured soon then the other side will triumph. We have tried to get the the cure but he insisted he would not take sides in a war. If you went to him for the cure for your friend and brought back enough for two.…"

"Tell us why we should take sides." Lorne commanded, not ready to give in so easily.

Hakes lifted his chin. "They are ruthless barbarians." he spat, "They are evil and show no mercy. They are criminals, murders, thieves, and mercenaries."

Evan scrutinized his face for a moment before turning to Carson. "How long does Sheppard have, doc?"

"A week at most, three days at least." Carson reported honestly. He very much wanted to come right out and say yes, they'd help the poor soul, but he waited until Evan had passed judgment.

"Alright, we'll help if we can." Evan agreed, with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that something here was wrong. Pushing it aside as a dislike for being held captive, Evan stepped forward and shook Hakes hand. Apparently hand shakes had developed on at least one planet.

* * *

The long dusty hike was torture for Carson. It wasn't that he was physically out of shape. It was that there was next to no shade and they had been walking at a pace closer to a jog. It also may have had something to do with the fact that they were traveling up a mountain. Carson was panting, soaked in sweat, and more than ready to rest.

Hakes, however, had not seen it fit to call a rest since the hike began. He and his burly troop seemed to have no trouble whatsoever.

Carson's only solace was in the fact the that Evan was breathing a little heavier than normal. Still the doctor was ready to collapse with relief when a little cottage came into view far into the distance.

Hakes and his four men stopped a good two miles away in the shade of the largest tree either Lantean had yet seen on the planet.

Evan and Carson continued at a more reasonable pace to cover the last two miles. The two reached the shabby hut a half hour later and knocked tentatively. A few moments later the door opened to reveal an old man, most likely in his eighties.

"And what can I do for you fellows?" He rasped out.

"We're here looking for a little assistance." Evan answered.

He glanced out the doorway with a suspicious glance before ushering them in.

"What is it you need from me?"

"Our friend has become ill with a disease called Mortifero Morbo." Carson began.

The old man raised his eyebrows. "Oh, really?"

"Yes," Evan picked up, "He caught it just this morning. We don't have a cure for it."

"One does not simply 'catch' Mortifero Morbo, young man, it is given. A long time ago the disease was created by a race that is said to have predated the Wraith themselves. They engineered it to use against the Ancestors, whom they had a quarrel with. Since this race backed down, the Ancestors never produced a cure for it, thus all there is is the antidote that they created. Someone must have uncovered it because you're the second group this week to come looking for it."

Instead of saying anything about a second group, Carson asked, "Can you help us?"

"I can send you with a list of ingredients, where to find them, and I can take you to a starting point, but beyond that I will not be much help."

"That's plenty helpful." Carson assured him. "It's a lot bloody more than what we 'ave now."

* * *

**Okie dokie, Shep is planning his appearance next chap and hopefully these fast updates will last!**

**And, of course, thank you Amycat8733 for the extremely helpful betaing!**


	6. Gone

**Okay, I didn't mean to take this long but my computer's power cord died and I had to wait for a new one in the mail. That and I did my very best to write my wonderful readers a longer chapter! Thank you so much Amycat8733 for your quick and thorough beta. Enjoy!**

* * *

The withered old man leaned heavily on his cane, guiding the two significantly younger men higher up the mountain. This trek was making him weary. "I'm getting too old for this." He muttered.

"You could tell us the direction and we could continue alone." Carson offered immediately, concerned that the older man wouldn't make the rest of the journey.

"No, I must show you in person." He wheezed and added. "We are almost upon the place anyhow."

Sure enough they arrived less than ten minutes later. Two perfectly shaped stones formed a triangular arch fifty feet away and a small, unkempt, wooden shack stood to its left.

The old man headed at a seemingly stagnant pace toward the shack. Inside was devoid of any décor. It held a simple cot that looked to have a case of the moths and a rickety table barely supporting a thick, leather book.

"That," The man croaked, pointing a gnarled finger toward the book, "has answers inside."

Evan stepped passed him and lifted the cover gently, pulling out an ancient piece of paper. "This?"

"Yes, now come. I will open the ground door and send you through."

"Ground door?" Carson repeated questioningly. "That rock triangle thing?"

"Yes, it will send you from here to the other side of the planet much faster than walking." The old man answered.

"May I suggest you get some rest before you return to your home?" Carson said.

Chuckling, the man looked up at them. "Don't you worry about me. I'll rest plenty and probably still be here when you get back."

* * *

"_Dr. Weir?"_

Elizabeth's radio startled her out of an impromptu nap on her desk. Rubbing her forehead Elizabeth tapped her earwig and responded. "Yes, Dr. Cole. What is it?"

"_He's awake."_ was the simple answer.

Those two words came a hairsbreadth away from stopping her heart. _So soon?_ She despaired. "I'll be there in a moment." Elizabeth eased herself off the chair and began walking purposefully down to the infirmary, for the city's sake casting a smile the technicians' way and maintaining a neutral expression.

The expedition leader arrived at the infirmary not five minutes later to find John's team already there.

John was attempting to sit up without wincing and his team was obviously trying to hold him back.

"John –" Elizabeth began, but was cut off when he announced. "I need to go to the planet where Lorne and Beckett went missing."

Elizabeth turned and gave Dr. Cole and the team 'the eyebrow.'

"Well, we had to tell him why Dr. Cole was the one taking care of him." Rodney defended.

She understood, but that did not mean she was happy about it. Turning to John, Elizabeth said, "John, you were completely unresponsive all day yesterday. Now, we are still looking for them but you need to stay here."

"No, I can help." John insisted.

"You're ill." Elizabeth reasoned and heard Dr. Cole mutter, "That's what I tried to tell him."

"Dr. Cole says it's not contagious." John argued.

"It could... affect your judgment for all we know." Rodney pointed out, digging around for other excuses for John to stay.

John turned a questioning expression toward Dr. Cole who reluctantly conceded, "It doesn't."

Ronon and Teyla, who were on either side of John, placed restraining hands on his shoulders when he ventured another attempt at sitting up again.

"But you are in pain." Teyla stated.

"It's not bad." John protested. "I can barely feel it."

"And what about when it gets worse?" Elizabeth asked.

"If I pass out I'll come back." John offered wryly, knowing full well if he passed out _anywhere_ he would get brought, or carried, back whether he liked it or not.

"I would prefer you not pass out at all." Dr. Cole cut in.

"Fine, I'll come back if I get close to that point." John yielded. "I can deal with the rest and I'll only be a 'Gate trip away. I won't lay here doing nothing while Lorne and Beckett are in trouble because of me. I can help."

Pressing her lips into a thin line Elizabeth turned to the doctor, "Dr. Cole?"

She sighed. "A full meal and check back here in four hours."

* * *

Carson clutched the precious _nossey'ahse_ plants carefully in his hands while Evan slid down the thick, gray trunk of a tree that neither cared to remember the name of at that moment.

Approaching Carson, Evan announced, "I have it." He displayed two lemon-shaped fruits that were the most detestable colors of orange and brown one can imagine.

"Good, now we can get home, cure the Colonel, eat, sleep, and take tomorrow off." Carson smiled.

"You're forgetting Hakes and his men." Evan pointed out.

"Ay, on purpose. They give me a headache." Carson muttered.

Evan chuckled quietly before dropping his mirth. "I'm not sure they're being entirely truthfully."

"About what?" Carson asked as they began walking back to the ground door.

"'He insisted he wouldn't take sides in a war'?" Evan quoted. "That old man seemed to genuinely want to help do something about this. Why wouldn't he help Hakes?"

"I did wonder about that." Carson admitted. "And I would have much preferred they asked us to help more nicely, but if it concerned us surely he would have told us."

"I don't know, doc. I don't know..."

* * *

John's pain meter was slowly but steadily climbing. It had started in his ankle, of all places, and began traveling up his leg. Every step he took sent a sharp jolt up his leg and it was an uphill battle keeping it off his face. His only consolation was that, for now, the pain stayed in his leg.

Ronon had stayed with him while Teyla had gone with Rodney. They discreetly inquired about the missing Major and Doctor while politely looking into the respective stalls' items, noting anything of interest before moving on.

It had been some time, John had not cared to remember, when Ronon leaned down and whispered. "We're being watched."

Alerted John scanned the area out of the corner of his eye and located the man leaning casually against the wall of an alleyway, watching them.

"I see him." John confirmed, turning away so that whoever it was wouldn't know he'd been made.

"What do you want to do?" Ronon asked.

Looking over his shoulder, John found him still staring rather indiscreetly. Then the man made eye contact with him and held it unwavering.

"Let's go talk to him." John decided.

"That could be a bad idea." Ronon warned.

"Yeah, but he knows something, and we won't find out by standing here." John argued as he reached up to his ear. "Teyla, Rodney, come in."

"_What is it, Sheppard?"_ Rodney answered.

"Ronon and I may have something; we'll check back in with you guys in twenty minutes. If we don't, get to the Stargate and call for back up."

"_Okay, good luck."_

John turned off the radio and looked at Ronon who had raised his brows.

"Well, I didn't say I expected it to go perfectly, now did I?" John defended and headed toward the alleyway. He heard Ronon's heavy boots behind him as he walked. When they had traversed half the distance between them the man turned and walked back into the alley.

John glanced at Ronon who placed his hand on his gun and wrapped his fingers around his own gun. When they reached the space between the buildings their suspect rounded the right side of the building. Conscious of the fact that they were being led away from public view John gripped his P90 harder and shifted his grip. His next step jarred his leg too much and his knee gave slightly, causing him to stumble. He felt Ronon's grip on his bicep at once, keeping him from actually hitting the cold, unforgiving stone beneath him.

"Sheppard?"

"I'm fine. Let's get this over with."

Ronon released his arm but kept a careful eye on him as the rounded the corner of the tall, windowless, gray building.

John later kicked himself for not seeing it coming.

When they turned the corner they had just enough time to take in a wraith stunner before it let off to successive blasts.

John's world burst into blue and white before fading to black.

* * *

**Cliffhanger *rubs hands back and forth maniacly* more of my evil plans soon!**


	7. Revelation

**Here is the next one! Thank you, thank you, thank you Amycat 8733 for the beta!**

* * *

Carson and Evan trudged down the mountain with Hakes and two men in front of them and two behind. Evan was getting more suspicious that they were not the honest men they claimed to be. Uncertainty rang through his mind. Why would they kidnap them to ask for assistance? Why wouldn't the old man deal with them? Why were they escorting them down the mountain like they were afraid they'd run away? When Evan thought of all these things combined they began to paint a doubtful picture. Hakes', 'They are unforgivably bad, and your fortunate we're doing something about it.' speech didn't develop fluffy feeling of trust and endearment either.

They continued in silence but the occasional glance Evan threw Carson's way told as much as words could. It was easy to tell that Carson was getting increasingly worried about a certain Colonel back on Atlantis. When the Stargate came into sight across the grassy plain both Carson and Evan where unbelievable relieved.

Hakes seemed to have other plans in mind because they were turned away from the Stargate so that the ring was on their left.

Evan was about ready to change their status from slightly forced help to captives.

Carson, upon noticing that they're current destination wasn't the Stargate, raised his hand to get someone's attention and pointed out that, "The Stargate is the other way."

"I know," Hakes answered. "We just have to pick something up before we go to my planet."

"Your planet!" Carson repeated in protest. "But one of our people is still very sick!"

"And our leader has been sick longer than your friend," Hakes reasoned. "Our leader has a greater need."

"Wait." Evan stopped walking and turned his suspicious stare to Hakes back.

Hakes turned around, annoyed to have the journey halted, and met Evan's glare. "What?"

"We never told you when our friend fell ill, how did you know when?" Evan asked.

Hakes hesitated long enough for Evan to decide that the next thing that came out of his mouth would most likely going to be a lie. "We heard when we heard that you were looking for the cure." He replied smoothly.

"No, we never told anyone that. We only asked for any knowledge of a cure, we got nothing else and gave nothing else."

Hakes was still trying to come up with a convincing reply when Carson put two and two together. "You poisoned the Colonel!" Carson accused.

The guns that were unholstered in response to Carson's verbal realization only served to prove his point.

Hakes mouth set into a grim line. "It was necessary. You would not have helped us otherwise."

"Yes we would!" Carson exclaimed. "We will give medical help to anyone who needs it! You could have just asked us, we would have helped."

Hakes didn't answer; instead he turned on his heel and started marching forward again. His four men pushed the major and the doctor forward.

Turning his glare to the guns shoving them none to gently forward, Evan muttered to Carson, "These people must have a real big problem with asking nicely."

Carson nodded in agreement as he saw the little wood shed that had held them earlier come into view.

Hakes approach it with short tense strides. He jerked the door open and went inside while two more of his men came out.

Evan's hope of escape by himself sank. Five was doubtful at best, but seven would be near impossible. Evan found himself wishing for one of the Colonel's ingenious, while insane, escape plans or Ronon's brute strength would be good about now too.

"Colonel!"

Evan snapped out of his thoughts, mentally cursing himself for getting distracted and looked up. He saw that Hakes had emerged from the shed dragging his Commanding Officer by the collar of his black shirt while the Colonel tried to get his legs underneath him so he could stand. His right leg hung uselessly while he tried in vain to stand up but Hakes was walking too fast for him to do anything more than stumble along.

Hakes gave him a good shove towards his fellow captives who barely managed to catch him. "Let's go."

Evan pulled John's arm over his shoulder to support him while Carson looked him over; they both took note of the dried blood on his left temple.

"Are you alright son?" Carson whispered as they obeyed the guns nudging them forward.

John only grunted in response, which Carson took to mean no. The Stargate still being a good three or four miles away Carson decided now was a good a time as any to find out what happened. "What happened?"

"We were... looking for you guys." John started, his voice breathy like he'd just run several miles without stopping.

"Ronon and I were following... somebody and they got the drop on us. I musta hit my head... on the way down." Here he motioned to the head wound. "I don't know what happened to Ronon... but I'm assuming they left him there. I only woke up a few minutes ago." John's good leg stumbled on a hole obscured from view by the long grass and he winced as his other leg came into jarring contact with the ground. Evan managed to keep him from hitting the ground but Hakes' men apparently thought it was the perfect excuse to shove them harshly forward.

"Keep moving." one growled, though the grin on his face suggested he was enjoying himself too much for Evan's taste.

"Goons get all the fun." He muttered in jest.

John snorted mirthlessly and Carson took hold of John's other arm for added support. "What's wrong with your leg?"

"I'm guessing it's that excruciating... pain Ronon was talking about." John mused.

"And why were you allowed out of the infirmary, or off world for that matter?" Carson demanded.

"Told Cole that I'd come back... when it got bad. I could barely feel it when I woke up... this morning."

"It's all happening very fast if you're already in pain. You probably only have another day left."

"Well let's just hope the pain... lasts for a long time." John stated.

Carson frowned at the layer of sweat already forming on his friend's brow and upper lip.

"How 'bout you guys tell me... what happ'ned to you." John suggested.

Evan took up the report at once out of habit and wondered what was going to happen to them next.

* * *

Teyla was tense but outwardly calm while she waited for John to call and tell them what was going on. Rodney had been wringing his hands and checking and rechecking his watch every thirty seconds. When fifteen minutes had gone by they reached the unspoken agreement to go find them. When they had reached the part of town Ronon and John had been Rodney pulled out his LSD and turned toward the left. Weaving their way through the crowd the reach a space in between two large buildings.

"Are you certain they are this way, Rodney?" Teyla asked.

"Yeah, I'm detecting a subcutaneous transmitter down here around the corner a little ways, but Teyla... there's only one." Rodney told her worriedly.

Eyes widening Teyla dashed down the alley and rounded the corner aware that Rodney was close behind. Teyla saw Ronon lying on the stone some twenty feet away and rushed over to him and dropped to the ground. "Ronon?" Teyla smacked his cheek lightly in attempt to wake him.

Ronon groaned, "Teyla?" and sat up.

"Yes. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"Where's Sheppard?" Rodney asked, looking around but seeing no evidence of his friend.

Ronon looked at the ground where the Colonel should have been. He spotted a small smear of red on the stone and reached over to touch it. "Blood," he stated unnecessarily. "We were ambushed."

"Oh boy," Rodney moaned. "Elizabeth's gonna kill us!"

Teyla rolled her eyes at him and pulled Ronon up. "We must return to Atlantis and get reinforcements."

* * *

**Please, please review for me!**


	8. Cure

**I'm very sorry to have taken so long, reality is like that. But here it is!**

* * *

When they arrived on the other side of the Stargate the first thing they saw was tents, many tents. Milling around and in between the tents were soldiers, perhaps hundreds, but neither Carson, Evan, nor John had the chance to make a closer estimate because they were hustled forward quickly. The guards stood close at their sides and limited their view of the surroundings. Beyond the large camp they could see a log cabin. This they were forced inside of.

"Now make the cure." Hakes demanded, turning around to face Carson.

"I can't make it here." Carson lied, in truth he could make it, but Carson wasn't entirely sure that Hakes, or whoever was in charge, would allow John the cure. In short, Carson didn't trust them. "It needs the equipment that's back on our planet to make it."

"I don't believe you, Dr. Beckett." Hakes told him coolly, leaning forward for maximum intimidation effect.

Carson swallowed nervously but held his ground, "Well it's true."

Hakes straightened, determination set in his features. "Our leader has three or four days left, we guess it was a fairly small dose. Colonel Sheppard received a rather large one and based upon our estimations of when it was administrated and when he awoke, he only has one. We can be patient when it suits us, Dr. Beckett; if you choose to let Colonel Sheppard die then we will try to do it ourselves."

"But then you run the risk of failure." Carson pointed out, doing his very best not to sound desperate.

"Maybe, but we are prepared to try it on Major Lorne before then. If you let him die as well, we'll just kill you." Hakes smiled a sickening smile and left the room, door slamming shut and clicking to announce it was locked.

Carson turned toward his two military friends wondering why they had kept silent.

John was leaning heavily on Evan's shoulder with his lips pressed together and his fists clenched.

Carson spied a chair in the corner of the room and quickly retrieved it.

Evan eased his CO onto it gratefully. "Doc," Evan began.

"I shouldn't." Carson interrupted. "They were the ones who did the poisoning."

"But you can buy us some time, Carson." John said.

Carson and Evan winced at the throaty quality of his voice, reminding them both that none of them had swallowed a drop of water since their arrival or several hours before that.

"Why didn't they just come to us for help?" Carson despaired, wishing more than anything at that moment that Hakes' people had asked politely. "They should know from our reputation that we'd help, right?"

"They did." John stated quietly; he had the edge of the wooden chair clenched tightly in his hands.

"What? When? Why didn't I hear about this?" Carson demanded upon the sudden and unexpected announcement.

"Three days ago." John told him, lifting his face to stare Carson in the eye. "Hakes came to us on our overnight trip to M1G-398. He wanted our help but Teyla knew about his people. Murders and thieves she called them. She said they were a ruthless kind of people. Obviously, we refused; I guess they were desperate."

"Those are the words they used to describe their enemy." Evan put in, the whole thing was beginning to make more sense to him.

"More than likely their enemy is a clever bunch of rebels who're smart enough to lay low and strike effectively. That's what's making it hard for them to fight back." John mused. "And you probably didn't hear about it because you guys were looking for the cure as soon as you could and Ronon, Teyla, and Rodney may have held off writing a report in favor of joining the search."

"That makes sense." Carson admitted. Now he was even more hesitant to help them, given their reputation to other planets.

"Carson, do it."

* * *

Rodney was ready to shoot himself for not guessing it before. Instead he bolted up to Elizabeth's office, calling Ronon and Teyla to join on the way.

"What do you have, Rodney?" Elizabeth asked immediately upon Rodney's entrance, not bothering with formality.

"Teyla, you remember that guy who was asking us to help his sick leader?" Rodney asked instead of getting right to the point.

"Yes, Hakes," Teyla continued for Elizabeth's benefit. "His people are ruthless and without honor. He wanted us to help heal their leader as they are in the middle of a war."

Elizabeth pieced things together quickly."You think he had something to do with this?" She asked.

"Well, it makes sense and it's all we have." Rodney pointed out.

"Then we should go back there." Ronon stated.

Elizabeth nodded. "Go, and take Major Rutherford's team."

The three nodded and left to gather the other team and gear up.

Elizabeth watched them through the glass windows of her office. When they stepped through the rippling event horizon Elizabeth murmured, "Be safe."


	9. Rebellion

Evan Lorne was pacing back and forth on the far side of the room, eyebrows drawn together and deep in thought. Occasionally he would stop and regard his sleeping CO before resuming his pacing.

John Sheppard was slumped in the chair dozing lightly with a slight frown on his sweat-slicked face.

Carson threw a glance over his shoulder at the two pilots, which he had been doing frequently. It was very hard to pretend to be working when there were only three simple steps to the cure. Squeeze the weird, green, citrus-like fruit's juice into a tablespoonish amount of water; chew the plant until it was complete mush; mix it all together.

Though no had come to check on them yet, Carson was still stalling in the hopes that Evan would take after the colonel and come up with an insane plan. Carson's hopes were fulfilled when Evan halted mid-stride and fixated his stare on the colonel. "The rebels."

"Major?" He prodded after a moment of silence and stillness, hopeful that he would explain.

Evan turned his gaze toward Carson. "The rebels," he repeated. "If they've gotten this far against an enemy much bigger than them then they must be smart enough to be watching the ins and outs of this place."

"How do we know they're much bigger than these people? For all we know there could be thousands of these rebels." Carson protested.

Shaking his head Evan elaborated, "No, Hakes' people aren't stupid; if the rebels were a large group they would be easily found. Something tells me they're a small group. Or at least only a small group is attacking and the rest are off hiding."

"That's all very well, but how does it help us? We're trying to get back to Atlantis, remember lad?" Carson huffed, truly confused as to why Evan was telling him this.

"Because the 'Gate will be too heavily guarded, Doc," Evan explained patiently. "There are only three of us, Colonel Sheppard isn't exactly up to par, and as I said before these people aren't stupid. Our only sensible option is to escape to the rebels and see if they can help us, and maybe help them."

"And just how, Major, are ye planning on getting out of here? Getting out of this camp, base, or whatever it is will be just as hard as getting to the Stargate." Carson pointed out, though he was already guessing where Evan was going.

"You give Sheppard the cure and pretend to still be working on it. When the Colonel can walk we'll sneak out of here."

"Oh aye, we'll just sneak out of here!" Carson mocked, not feeling at all comforted by Evan's plan thus far.

Evan cringed. "Okay, so maybe that part needs a little ironing out but it's all I have."

"I don't think I can keep stalling for that long!" Carson exclaimed worriedly. "The cure is easy to make. It's not complicated at all!"

The log cabin's heavy wooden door banged open and startled the two arguers.

"What's not complicated?"

Carson swallowed visibly at Hakes, drawing a blank on what to say. To his infinite relief, Evan picked up the slack easily. "The other plants Dr. Beckett needs," he scoffed, as if he thought it should be obvious. It was an attitude he'd picked up from mimicking McKay for the sole purpose of annoying the scientist, which was remarkably easy to do. "The _bagree'is, polyst, _and _goan._ He needs them to complete the cure; he was _going_ to collect them off our planet."

Hakes gazed at the both of them for a long minute, trying to gauge their sincerity.

"Well, what are you waitin' for?" Carson snapped, following Evan's example of McKay-style impatience. "Fetch the plants before he dies or I might be inclined to throw the whole deal out the window." Carson began tapping his foot for good measure, crossed his arms the way he had seen Rodney do so many times, and scowled the closest he could manage to Rodney's scowl.

Behind him Evan folded his arms as well and offered his best Death Glare. It wasn't quite as scary as Ronon or Sheppard's or even Teyla or McKay's, but it was enough.

Hakes cleared out to find the essential plants.

"Smooth, guys, real smooth." John croaked from the chair, having been awakened by Hakes rather loud arrival. "McKay would be proud." He smirked.

"Yeah." Evan agreed and, retaking his McKay imitation, grasped Carson's shoulders from behind. In a voice with roughly the same rhythm and accent as the Canadian he said, "I'm so proud of you! You were so mean!"

John snickered loudly and Carson laughed helplessly at the devilish grin on Evan's face. Both the Colonel and the Doctor appreciated his ability to lighten the mood at that moment.

"How'd you know those plants?" John inquired. "Hakes obviously believed you."

"Parrish." Evan admitted sheepishly. "You can pick up a lot."

"Well, now that we have a perfectly good excuse for doing nothing, we can give you the cure and get on with our plan." Carson announced feeling more cheerful by the second; things were looking up... finally.

"What plan?" John asked his confusion mitigated by the exhaustion pulling him back toward sleep. He shifted to try and reawaken himself and winced at the movement.

"How's the pain level, Colonel?" Carson questioned, berating himself for forgetting.

"Would you believe me if I said I was just sore?" John asked without expecting any other answer than an eye-roll, which he received. He pressed his left arm close to his stomach and used his right to re-situate himself.

"Just give me a minute, son, I'll have you the cure and lying down instead of sitting real soon." Carson assured.

John nodded and turned to Evan, "Plan?"

Evan straightened automatically, "We plan to escape tonight, sir, and try to find the rebels. I figure they're our best bet and from the way the sun's moving dusk should be here in five or six hours."

The colonel nodded again, taking considerably less time than Carson to understand. "Let's just hope Hakes and company aren't back by then."

* * *

Paynin Geiz tugged on the bottom of his dark brown jacket and rechecked his pistol. Its clip was full, his boots were laced, and his clothes in order. His father would be proud of him. His father. Paynin's heart ached to see his father again. More than anything Paynin wished his father was there to see the formidable strike force of the Luhrians. To see that the Nuhrians would soon pay for their wrongs and the planet Uhria would be once again known for its fair trading. Most importantly Paynin wished his father was alive to see that Paynin had taken after his father, was the leader of his own unit, and was one of the war council organizing the rebellious Luhrian strike force in order to defeat the Nuhrians.

The Luhrians would not back down from the scum controlling the Ring of the Ancestors. They _would_ fight back. It had taken long to gather a sufficient force but the waiting had paid off. After the Luhrians' surrender and seven torturous years under their rule, the Nuhrians had not expected them to rise up. _That_ was their fatal mistake.

Paynin straightened and shook off his thoughts as Commander Lye Gerrsan approached.

"Are you ready, Captain Geiz?" The Commander inquired, glancing behind him at the other five men in Paynin's unit.

"Yes, Commander," Paynin responded automatically. "We are ready."

"Good. Remember that Colonel Sheppard and his people are most likely being watched closely and we need to get them out before the cure is finished and given to the Emperor. We need him dead." Gerrsan reminded.

Paynin felt a flash of annoyance at the reminder; he knew very well what the mission objective was. He shoved it down though, Father wouldn't have approved. "Yes, sir, we'll get them back here safely."

* * *

**Hey! I'm back sooner this time :D Thank you Amycat8733 for the beta. Any mistakes are mine because I went over it after she did.**

**I would love to know what you all think of Paynin, this is the first time I've created a _nice_ alien.**

**'Til next time (hopfully not to far away)**


	10. Rescue

**I****'m back again with an update one our three favorite gene carriers and the rebels! Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou Amycat8733 for the beta, any mistakes are mine because I tweeked a few things. Enjoy!**

* * *

It was pitch black outside. The planet's three moons were thin, dim crescents low in sky.

"Escape really isn't a good idea right now, Major, he cannae stand upright without help." Carson whispered casting a anxious look toward the figure asleep on the floor with a jacket as a makeshift pillow.

"We have to leave now, doc, this could be our only chance." Evan persisted, "He'll make it."

"I'm not sure about that, lad. The cure is putting an enormous amount of strain on his body, he needs to sleep it off." Carson pressed.

"He'll make it." Evan repeated confidently.

Carson exhaled slowly, the major was probably right but he was still dubious about the whole thing. "Fine."

"Good, let's see if we can wake him up." Evan knelt beside his Commanding Officer and shook his shoulder, "Colonel, it's time to go."

John blinked blearily at the blurry face above him, "Major?" He received a blurry nod and felt a firm grip on his forearm pull him into a sitting position and then to a standing. John held on until the room stopped spinning and he had blinked away the sleep.

"Are you sure yer up for this, son?" Carson questioned him uncertainly.

"We don't have a choice." John replied simply while he shuffled over to the door. He produced a hard, pin-shaped piece of metal and pushed it into the whole of the doorknob.

"Where'd ye learn to pick locks, Colonel?" Carson asked when he heard the door click.

John grinned, "Ronon taught me."

"Useful skill, maybe I could get him to teach me." Evan mused as he moved to stand next to the door jamb.

"I'm sure he'd be more than happy to, Major," John wrapped his fingers around the knob. "Ready?"

Evan nodded.

The guards didn't know what hit them.

* * *

Paynin peered cautiously around the corner of the wooden structure to find no sentry at the door in the darkness. It was expected of course, they had no reason to assume that their "impenetrable" stone walls surrounding their "impenetrable" city could be _penetrated._ Paynin motioned to Jamin Zethar, who slide forward, melting into the shadows natural for the former thief. Well, maybe not so much the _former_, that particular skill set was still in use.

Jamin quietly opened the door and slipped through the door soundlessly.

Paynin and the rest of the unit watched their surroundings with keen eyes. They did not have to wait long for Jamin to reappear holding the vials.

Jamin gave him an affirming nod and they crept forward together, aware without using their eyes that their unit followed stealthily.

Paynin and Jamin led the way toward the place rumored to be holding Colonel Sheppard and his people. The building came into sight soon enough but with a puzzling mystery. Where was the guard? Surely they were not so arrogant to leave prisoners unguarded? Jamin noticed it as well and cast his searching gaze across the landscape. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary Jamin shrugged in Paynin's direction and skulked toward the door with his leader following, trusting their team to alert them of danger. Seconds later when the reached the door Jamin placed his hand on the doorknob and Paynin tightened his grip on his pistol. As Jamin opened the door Paynin kept his pistol trained on the inner darkness. It was not probable that there was a lurking ambush but Caution wasn't the rebel resistance's middle name for _nothing_.

The door opened with neither squeak nor screech, and after a beat of stillness Paynin withdrew his dull flashlight. It illuminated the empty room with low lighting. Or rather the empty room save for one unconscious Nuhrian guard. Respect and annoyance welled up in Paynin, respect that they had gone about rescuing themselves and annoyance for the very same reason. A glance a Jamin confirmed the same expression. They left, no words needed. It was obvious the only thing to do was to leave and hope they ran into them.

Colonel Sheppard couldn't have gone to the Ring. If he had the entire camp would no doubt be somewhere near chaos.

The group slunk out of the city with ease; this wasn't their first outing here. Paynin's unit ran into one patrol, which was soundlessly dispatched. The rest of their departure was unnoticed.

They had only just reached the edge of the tree line when a voice from the darkness questioned them.

"You wouldn't happen to be the murderous thieving rebels would you?"

This caused the instantaneous reaction of six rebel pistols being pointed in the direction of the voice.

Three men stood there in foreign clothing one leaning against another while the third stood near.

"'Cause we could use lift," The man leaning heavily on his companion went on.

Paynin smiled in both mirth and relief. "Colonel Sheppard," he assumed lowering his gun.

"That's me, this is Dr. Beckett and Major Lorne. I presume that since you've heard of me you know my people and I are in a bit of a fix." Colonel Sheppard continued.

"I know." Paynin verified, "You escaped before we could rescue you, though."

"Geiz, this isn't the place to chat." Jamin urged.

Paynin nodded, "We need to get to the camp." Making an assessment of the colonel's slumped condition he added. "Lt. Zethar can carry you."

Colonel Sheppard opened his mouth with a frown, "I can – "

Having expected the protest, Paynin added, "It's two miles."

The Colonel shut his mouth, still frowning he ratified. "Fine." He allowed himself to be lifted over Jamin's shoulder with nothing more than a grunt.

Major Lorne and Dr. Beckett cast him grateful looks, the meaning was not lost on Paynin but Jamin noticed it as well.

Jamin did not need to speak for Paynin to know what he was thinking.

* * *

Elizabeth listened carefully through Rodney's rapid explanation, he had been in too much of a hurry to walk up the stairs to the briefing room and so he was updating her in the Gateroom.

The team of marines who stood behind the flagship team (minus one) made no move to leave.

Elizabeth had no doubts that they expected her to authorize a rescue mission as soon as Rodney was done. Which was probably going to be true. After all, this was her CMO, military CO, his XO. She couldn't lose all of them at once. Or at all if possible.

"Take a 'Jumper, and report back what you find before any rescue if you can." Elizabeth had scarcely finished before six people were speed-walking toward the 'Jumper Bay.

Teyla paused and turned to Elizabeth, "We'll find them, Elizabeth." Teyla assured her.

"I know you will, good luck."


	11. Separation

Hakes was fuming as he paced across the room. None of the officer's dared approach their superior for fear of being scalded by his flames. Not that any of them blamed him; they simply did not so outwardly show their frustration.

Hakes, however, had no such reservations. The Lanteans had escaped! They had fooled him, overpowered the guard at their door and slipped out unnoticed. _Unnoticed!_ Hakes screamed inwardly._Walked away! Escaped without any difficulty! While Colonel Sheppard was ill!_ Something else contributed to Hakes' fury as well. Their last precious reserves of Mortifero Morbo had been stolen in the act. The only bit they'd been able to save from the tragic Luhrian raid, and now it was all gone. Not only that, but the cure that Dr. Beckett had created had vanished along with its creator. Hakes knew now that the other three plants that Dr. Beckett 'needed' were only a distraction, and like a fool Hakes had fallen for it. That trickery had cost the Nuhrians their leader. Emperor Pikus had passed two hours ago.

Hakes was sorely tempted to smash his fist into one of the ornate windows, to feel it shatter under his knuckles, anything would have at least partially satisfied Hakes. Unfortunately the one man's face he desperately wanted to smash his fist into was running around the outlining forest, no doubt with Luhrian forces already. All he could do was pace and wait for the council to choose a new leader, until then Hakes had to wait. It was the waiting that was eating him up. The council was wasting valuable time that Hakes could be spending tracking down the three men responsible, how could they not see that?

The door to the council chamber screeched open on old hinges, bringing Hakes out of his dark thoughts.

"The council has chosen Laeres." One of the servants informed him. "The new emperor and the rest of the council are ready to see you about what should be done next."

Hakes nodded and strode toward the door.

The Luhrians had won a great victory by the Emperor's death. Now they had someone unacquainted with the position. That aalone could prove deadly for the Nuhrians. They Nuhrians would need to exploit every advantage. First things first, they would have to activate the electrical jamming system. No radios, no nothing. They needed to restrict their enemy's communication. It would also restrict their own but they would be able to handle it with their limited amount of special radios designed to work around the jamming field.

Hakes promised himself the moment he laid hands on the Lanteans he was going to kill Colonel Sheppard very slowly and very painfully before Doctor Beckett's eyes. That would be the most torturous thing for him; he was a healer after all. Hakes wasn't going to deny that he hated them both for their actions. As he crossed the threshold into the council chamber of the Nuhrians, Hakes realized he hadn't decided what to do with the third one. He was another soldier but he'd simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mentally shrugging, Hakes decided he would just kill him first. Nevertheless, they were all going to die regretting they ever refused to help Commander Hakes of the Nuhrians.

* * *

Paynin's eyes roved the dark forest, it was his watch. Dusk was beginning slowly, the horizon was brightening, and the clouds crowded the sky. It was going to be overcast today which was good. The darker it was the better their uniforms would blend into the thick forest. Rain, if forthcoming, would wash away their minuscule tracks and any scent the Nuhrian's _gred _dogs could pick up.

_Swish._

Paynin froze in his leisurely pace. He listened carefully before alerting anyone to be sure he wasn't imagining things. It came again, over the soft snores of Dr. Beckett, was the soft rustle of boots slinking over the dry forest carpet of dead leaves. He scanned the direction he was sure the sound had come from. His eyes found the still form of a human, obviously watching him to determine whether or not he'd been found.

Tearing his eyes away, Paynin continued walking and began to scrutinize the rest of the forest for more intruders. When he passed him, Paynin tapped Jamin's shoulder with his boot as inconspicuously as he could, knowing it was all it would take to wake him.

Paynin was alarmed to discover that they were closing in on all sides. _Surrounded,- this is going to get ugly._ Now that his ears had tuned themselves to the sound, Paynin could hear many more boots creeping forward. Looking around, Paynin saw Jamin nod, proving that he saw it too. _How did they find us?_ Was was one of Paynin's worries but he was more anxious about how they were going to escape.

Jamin began waking the other four men while Paynin knelt by Major Lorne.

"Major?"

The major woke without delay, blinking quickly to rid himself of sleep. "What is it.?"

"We're surrounded, we need to get out of here." Paynin explained in a whisper.

Lorne nodded and sat up to wake his friends.

Their temporary camp was awake and ready for departure within a minute. Unfortunately a minute was long enough for even a Nuhrian to realize what was happening.

"Close in!" Came the shout.

The group sprang into action at the outcry.

Jamin took the lead and the rest followed while Paynin stayed back to watch their backs. As he did he saw Colonel Sheppard stumble and almost lose his footing.

Paynin cursed the Nuhrians for catching up to them before the man was well enough to keep up properly. He gripped Sheppard's forearm to steady him and assisted him forward.

"Come on, Colonel." He urged him forward.

"You try." Sheppard muttered but picked up the pace from stumbling to something closer to running.

That's when the first shots fired. Either these Nuhrians were terrible shots or they weren't trying to hit them but in either case they weren't shot.

Paynin caught sight of a Nuhrian trying to cut them off from the left. Bringing his pistol up, he Paynin fired at him. He felt Sheppard jerk him to their right before Paynin could tell if he'd killed him or not. Paynin didn't question it the pull, he couldn't have his eyes everywhere and Sheppard had no doubt seen someone else coming at them.

Their enemy was trying to cut off the stragglers which, unfortunately, were Sheppard and Paynin. Fortunately Sheppard had obviously received his delayed burst of adrenaline and was running almost as fast as Paynin.

It was fifteen minutes of dodging later when the two realized had lost sight of the rest of the group _– _they were alone.

* * *

The enemy gunfire had finally ceased. Carson thanked whoever listened for the break. He slumped against the nearest tree and closed his eyes to catch his breath, breathing deeply for a minute before opening his eyes. His eyes automatically scanned the group for the Colonel, checking to see how he had fared. "Where's Colonel Sheppard!" He blurted in alarm, eyes widening when he could not find his friend.

Evan jerked around, having been oblivious of his leader's absence.

Jamin looked around too and added, "Paynin's gone too."

"Well, what're we waitin' for? We have to go find them!" Carson announced impatiently. Normally he was calmer than this but he had just been kidnapped, forced to escape with an exhausted friend, and chased around in the woods, he was nearing the end of his line.

"We can't." Jamin told him, regret only slightly coloring his voice. If he hadn't spent so long deciphering Ronon's miniscule signals Carson might not have noticed it.

"Why not?" Evan demanded, mentally lecturing himself for not noticing sooner that Sheppard wasn't with them.

"Because," Jamin pointed out calmly, "the forest will be crawling with Nuhrian soldiers and a group will not be able sneak around effectively. And Dr. Beckett is hardly qualified to go on a rescue."

"I can handle a gun." Carson informed him stiffly. "Besides, what if they're injured?"

"I'm sure you can pull a trigger, but I doubt you have the skills of stealth needed. If they're injured we'll bring them to you at the camp where you'll have plenty of material to take care of them with."

Carson scowled, knowing Jamin was right. Glancing at Evan the doctor saw a similar expression on the major's face.

"So what, we just leave them out there?" Evan growled angrily.

"No," Jamin turned to one of the other soldiers. "Corporal Jihr, lead everyone back to camp and tell Commander Gerrsan what has happened." Jamin ordered, then he checked the amount of bullets in his gun as he began to move back in the direction they had come from.

"Wait, where are you going?" Evan cut in.

"I'm going to find them while you all head back to camp." Jamin said crisply.

"I'm coming with you." Evan resolved without hesitation.

Jamin frowned, "I don't need assistance."

"My Commanding Officer is out there too."

"Fine."

* * *

Atlantis listened intently to the status report coming from the extraction team on Uhria.

"_Something's messing with our equipment," _came Dr. McKay's voice. _"I think it's a jamming field but I can't locate the source with the sensors. We need boots on the ground to check it out."_

For not the first time since the Earthlings had entered her, Atlantis wished she had a human body with which she could help. It was figuratively killing her to sit around and wait. It was slightly easier to handle when it was only John, she knew Carson and Evan would still be with her if he was gone. This time it was different _–_ now all three of them were missing and Atlantis was a bundle of nerves, figuratively of course, nerves were only in a human body. Still Atlantis was worried sick, _There I go again, figuratively, I can't actually be sick without a body. How many other expressions do not apply to me anymore because I am a city?_

"_Do you know how many hostiles there are on the planet?" _Dr. Weir questioned, bringing the city back to the present

"_I don't know! We can't even get life signs with the – " _McKay began.

Weir cut in, _"Rough visual head count Rodney!"_

"_A lot."_ Came Ronon's succinct reply. _"We're going to need a new plan."_

Atlantis' heart sank, (_figuratively!_) she was afraid to lose them all. They were her only connection to the people of Earth and the only friends she'd had in over ten thousand years. The fact that she couldn't change a thing was eating away at her... _iron? I suppose that works. Maybe I will get John to help when he gets back, if he gets back..._

* * *

**To Be Continued!**

**I promise the whump is coming soon, I'm building up to it... sorta. I hope you're all still enjoying it! And thank you, thank you, thank you Amycat8733 for your efficient beta and support!**


	12. Cliffhanger

Had they shaken their enemies? Neither John nor Paynin knew for sure, but they took advantage of the apparent solitude to rest. The forest wasn't completely quiet; birds busied themselves above the two soldiers while a squirrel-like animal nosed through fallen leaves nearby.

"I'm guessing they're going to leave the rest of the group and hunt us down." John surmised.

"Most likely," Paynin confirmed. "If we can get back to the main camp we will be safe."

"And which way would that be?" John questioned as he scanned the surrounding woods for any sign of their pursuers.

Paynin looked up at the position of the planet's sun and pointed, "This way is the main camp. The best thing to do will be to find a patrol. Hopefully they will be able to help us get rid of the Nuhrians chasing us."

John caught a twinge of reluctance in his ally's voice, "What's wrong?"

"Our main camp's location has remained hidden so that the Nuhrians could not attack us." Paynin explained. "If we go there, we risk giving away its position."

"Which could be deadly," John concluded. He noticed a flicker of movement and turned his face to scrutinize the spot.

Paynin nodded. "I can't think of any way to lose them before we get there."

"Captain," John said in a low voice as casually as he could.

Paynin looked toward him, "What?"

"They're closing in from the way we came, our right and our left." John continued in a low tone. "They're blocking the way to your main camp, we can only go forward. You have any idea what's in that direction?"

"I'm fairly sure it is only more trees." Paynin guessed uncertainly.

"Then let's go that way."

* * *

Hakes surveyed the eight men gearing up to follow him into the woods. Each soldier was one of the very best Nuhria had to offer. They expressions held a grave quality as they stood in front of Hakes, awaiting his orders.

For his part, Hakes was bordering on giddy. When he had radioed the team sent to search for their missing prisoners, they had reported that they had lost the rest of the group but were tracking two, and at least one of the two was Lantean. Hakes wanted revenge for what the Lantean's had done, and by the Ancestors he was going get it.

"Are you ready?" Hakes asked the group.

"Yes, Sir." They responded all at once.

"Let's go."

* * *

John heard a bullet smash into a tree but didn't see it. Everything was so dark that he and Paynin were running almost absolutely blind. More often than not John would fail to dodge one of the near indistinguishable silhouettes of the thick trees and his shoulder would slam into the unforgiving wood. Each impact sent him stumbling against Paynin, who was the only reason John was still running for his life. If not for the Luhrian, John would have fallen a long time ago.

"Stop!" Paynin jerked to a halt and John slid to a stop with him.

"What?" John whispered questioningly, breathing hard but trying to do so quietly.

"I think they have stopped pursuing us." Paynin replied breathlessly.

Taking a deep breath John asked, "That's a good thing, right?"

Paynin shook his head before realizing that his companion most likely couldn't see him. "I don't think so. They don't usually stop in the midst of a pursuit..."

"Unless?" John prompted as he did his best to see anything other than the dark trees around them.

"Unless they are getting ready to send the _greds _in." Paynin answered.

Frowning, John clarified, "The ugly dog things they had with them?"

"They have incredible eyesight and a fairly good sense of smell, though not much of anything else." Paynin informed him.

Before John could make any reply a shrieking howl filled their ears and sent several birds fleeing into the air.

"That them?" John questioned immediately.

"That's them." Paynin confirmed. "All we can do is run."

"Oh, goody."

* * *

Carson paced nervous circles near the camp entrance. They had only just arrived at the main Luhrian encampment and he was worried for his friends. It wasn't that he didn't trust the Luhrians, but Colonel Sheppard could have been recaptured for all he knew and Major Lorne could be searching uselessly for the colonel without a hope of finding him.

"Doctor Beckett." Someone called out.

Carson halted his pacing and whirled toward the voice and found himself facing a man of average height and weight who looked to be in his late fifties.

"Commander Gerrsan," the man introduced himself. "I am sorry you are trapped here for now. It is too dangerous to be trying to reach the Nuhrian base around the Stargate."

"What about my friends?" Carson demanded at once, worry etched into his brow and his voice.

"I am sorry, we cannot send out search parties for them. The Nuhrians are nearby." Gerrsan explained.

"So you're just going t' leave them out there!" Carson accused angrily as he thought that maybe he should calm down, after all he didn't want to be 'out there' either. He doubted he'd be of much use to the colonel and the major.

Gerrsan stiffened at Carson words and responded tersely. "Two of my people are out there as well, doctor. Captain Geiz and Lieutenant Zethar are two of our finest officers; I do not make this decision lightly."

Feeling slightly guilty for provoking him Carson replied. "I know, I'm sorry. I'm just worried about my friends."

"I understand." The tension released from Gerrsan's body. "As soon as we can we will look for them, but you must know that it could take some time. The Nuhrians have more plentiful resources than we do and their _gred _dogs are efficient hunters. To send people out now would most certainly mean deaths."

Taking a deep, calming breath the way Teyla had taught him in the all too few meditation lessons she'd given him, Carson nodded. "But you will when you can?"

"We will."

* * *

John skidded to halt, faced with an abrupt cut off in the ground that didn't look low. Squinting in the dark John could make out the vague outline of an enormous canyon. "Only more trees?!" John repeated Paynin's earlier words, scowling and doing his utmost to catch his breath.

"I said I was fairly sure." Paynin defended as he looked for anything to tell them where he was.

"Where to, Captain?" John asked impatiently listening carefully for sounds of the enemy. Not far away he could hear the high pitched barking of the _gred _dogs that the Nuhrians had set loose on them. The animals seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the chase.

Paynin had yet to answer, staring into the dark uncertainly.

"Captain!"

In response Paynin grabbed his arm and dragged him to their left, praying that he had chosen the correct direction.

They had not gone more than five paces when a _gred _suddenly leaped in front of them, seemingly out of nowhere. Turning to their right, away from the cliff edge, brought them face to face with two more of the alien dogs. One more completed the half circle, effectively trapping them.

"I don't suppose you have a special password that'll make them not tear us to shreds, do you?" John tried, watching each _gred _in the dim light to see if they would attack.

"No," Paynin answered quietly, wincing as one _gred _let out a particularly nasty snarl.

"Worth a shot." John said lightly.

The sun was beginning to peek over the edge of the planet, allowing John a better sight of the intimidating animals. He focused on one large _gred _who had a bristly brown coat and teeth that looked much too large to fit inside his mouth. The brown dog-like animal crouched, his lean muscles tensing with a deep growl. The other three copied and John got the feeling that he and Paynin were about to be _gred_ chow. Then two of them launched themselves from the ground to the cornered humans.

Paynin managed to swerve out of the way of the _gred's _rather large canines but still caught the full force of its momentum. He and the _gred _went over the edge separately.

John was not so fortunate.

The _gred's _knife-like teeth sank deep into his upper arm as it tried to bring him down. Evidently things did not go as the _gred _had planned. The force of its heavy pounce pushed the two over the cliff. John scrambled with his free arm to find anything to break his fall. The rocks tore at John's hand with harsh edges, producing bruises and blood. Eventually John's hand caught on something substantial and he jerked to a halt. He cried out as his shoulder was nearly snapped out of its socket by the _gred _desperately clinging to his arm, eyes wide and all four legs flailing for purchase. His shoulders screamed under the strain and John could feel the skin and muscle tearing under the vicious hold of the _gred_. An unexpected help came as John heard a gun go off, feeling the _gred's _jaw go slack, and the extra weight drop away. Gasping through the pain, John turned his head up to see Paynin hanging by one hand with his pistol in his other a few feet above him to his left.

"There's a ledge just below you," Paynin called down. "If you can reach it there should be enough space for you."

Wordlessly, John nodded and inched downward. Dirt dug in under his nails and his blood slicked fingers trembled with the effort of holding himself against the wall of rock. It didn't help matters that John's head was beginning to feel light, the blood loss, pain, and hours of sprinting bringing on dizziness. John's muddled mind told him that it was likely that the only way he was getting off this cliff was by falling. Then John's boot came into contact with the ledge Paynin had spoken of, proven by the fact that Paynin yelled down that he had reached it. It was a miracle the John was able to make to his hands and knees before his vision tunneled and he slumped on the ledge.

* * *

**I'm back again! My month has been very busy but I managed to scramble together a couple of hours to finish this for you guys. And Amycat8733 has been a life saver. Seriously she saving your lives from the pain of reading the stuff I right after midnight. Enjoy!**


	13. Camp

"We've been searching for hours and there's been no sign of them." Evan whispered to his companion as they crept through the forest, which had become full of gray swirls of fog. Fortunately the fog was not so dense that they could not see, however, anything beyond twenty feet was nearly invisible.

"I know." Jamin growled quietly. "But unless you want to go back..."

"I get it, I get it." Evan responded. "I just think that we should find a better way of looking for them other than wandering aimlessly through the forest."

"Do you have any suggestions?" Jamin snapped and whirled around so that Evan could see his frustration at their situation.

Evan opened his mouth to reply when he caught movement behind Jamin. Leaning sideways, Evan indicated with a nod and whispered, "How about we follow them?"

Turning silently, Jamin saw what had caught Evan's attention. Roughly twenty-five feet away were the silhouettes of nine people, nine people that were most definitely not Luhrian and not Lantean.

Flashing Evan a grin, Jamin answered, "Sounds like a good idea."

Sometime later, Evan and Jamin seemed to have reached the edge of the mist as well as the forest when the group they were following stopped. They stopped at the edge of a cliff and peered over, obviously looking for something. Now that the mist was gone Evan recognized Hakes as the leader. The man ordered two of his men to toss over two extremely long coils of rope. Then he began to yell downward and what he yelled gave both pursuers a burst of hope.

"Colonel Sheppard!" He rattled off three options that Evan knew his commanding officer would hate and he anxiously waited for a reply as he leaned against a tree trunk that hid him from the enemy's view. Though neither Evan nor Jamin heard a response, Hakes apparently did because he called down, "Good choice, Colonel!"

It took only a moment for things to go downhill, or rather, downcliff.

"Pull the rope back up!" He ordered urgently and the men jumped to comply.

Several of his soldiers grabbed the rope and they began to try and drag the rope back up. All of the sudden the rope went slack and eight people fell backwards onto the ground.

* * *

John groaned as he came to because it was an entirely unpleasant experience. His shoulder throbbed with a burning intensity and his legs protested at the slightest twitch. He could feel his face pressed against warm, hard rock that was punctuated with tiny rock bits digging into his cheek. His right arm was dangling in the air and he could feel an open breeze running across his whole body. Gingerly rolling onto his side, John was rewarded with a view one could only get by hanging, or sitting, on the side of the cliff. Below lay a little lake and more trees decorated the land beyond the lake. Looking over his ledge, John guessed they had only fallen a fourth of the way down the cliff, which was a miracle in itself.

Carefully sitting up John winced as the action pulled on his injured shoulder. Holding his right arm close to his body in order to cause as little pain as possible, John shifted until he was sitting comfortably with his back resting against the cliff.

"Colonel, you're awake."

John twisted to look above and to his left where he could see another ledge. He had to squint against the sunlight but he was able to make out the form of his new friend, Paynin. "How long was I out?"

"It was early morning, or late at night, whichever, when you passed out and it's late morning now." Paynin responded and John could hear sounds that implied Paynin was shifting his position on his ledge. "About six Nuhrians are above us now but they're too far for us to hear what they plan to do. We'll just have to wait until they leave or try to get us."

Instead of mentioning that if they left John doubted he could climb up, John said, "More trees, huh?"

"I thought the cliff was in the opposite direction." Paynin sighed.

"Well, now we know you flunked geography class in school." John remarked snarkily.

Paynin was prevented from answering when pebbles and dirt showered them and caused them to look up when it was done. Above them it looked as if a few Nuhrians had stepped very close to the edge. However, from what they could see were a good many more than six.

"I thought you said six?" John questioned, looking back at Paynin.

"There were six," Paynin defended. "More must have arrived."

A few tense moments later two extremely long ropes flew over the edge unraveling from their coils as the fell. One landed to Paynin's left and one landed in between the two of them.

"Colonel Sheppard!" Someone from the top of the cliff shouted in a strong voice, John guessed it was Hakes but he couldn't be sure.

"You have three options now! One! You and your friend can climb up yourselves and surrender! Two! You can let us come down and bring you by force! Three! You can jump off the cliff to your deaths!"

Personally John hated those options and he scooted to the edge of the ledge to see exactly how far the fall was.

"Neither of you would survive the fall, I assure you! Water is as soft as rock at this height!" The Nuhrian shouted down. "There is no need for you to die for our war, Colonel!"

"I'm sure we'll die whether we jump or climb." Paynin quipped. "Colonel?"

"We have another option." John told him as he stood slowly, using the cliff wall for support. Leaning cautiously John was able to grab hold of the rope.

"Colonel? We can't fight them off." Paynin pointed out, though he still followed John's lead and stood to reach for the rope.

"Good choice, Colonel!"

John winced as he reached for the rope with his injured arm. "No, we can't but we survived a fall that was about a fourth the way down."

"And?" Paynin prompted, bemused.

"And," John continued, getting ready to trust the rope with his entire weight. "This rope goes three fourths of the way down. It's a good thing these Nuhrians came prepared to get us from a long way down."

"This is going to hurt." Paynin remarked as he understood John's plan. "Very much."

"Yes, it is. But I prefer hurt to death." John answered. Finally as ready as he could get John asked Paynin, "Ready?"

"Ready."

The two of them jumped off their respective ledges and, still gripping the rope, began to slide down.

The rope running against John's hands reopened the cuts from the previous night's fall and his palms began to burn. Still John gripped tight as he slid downward at an alarming rate. His head spun as gravity hurled him down and he had to close his eyes to concentrate on holding onto the rope. The fall was nothing close to graceful because his body kept bumping against the cliff face and he knew that he would have a copious amount of bruises when it was over. As he opened his eyes and looked down John knew he would have to try and stop himself soon, and that was going hurt even more. When the end of the rope came into sight John tightened his grasp on the rope as much as possible and ignored the growing burn. He finally jerked to a halt at the bottom of the rope roughly the same time Paynin did. Barely two seconds passed before the rope began to inch up, carrying the two people with it.

"We have to jump now." Paynin stated.

"I know." John ground out. "Be sure to push as far away as you can."

Paynin nodded and they both jumped, this time in complete free fall.

* * *

Carson swallowed hard as the Luhrian commander delivered the bad news. "And this mist is going to stay for days?"

"Yes." Gerrsan confirmed. "The mist usually stays around for a week, never less than four days, and on occasion two weeks. In bad cases it's stayed for almost a month."

"And you can't travel in this?" Carson asked, his worry for both friends increasing.

"We can travel but we can't search." Gerrsan corrected. "We could easily miss someone less than ten feet away when the mist starts to thicken."

Frustration built up inside of Carson. There seemed to be far too many obstacles and he didn't know what could be happening with his friends. Anything could and terrible scenarios ran rampant through his mind as he worried. All they could rely on for search was their eyes with no Puddle Jumpers and their sensors... Suddenly the solution presented itself to Carson. "You could miss someone ten feet away you say?"

Puzzled Gerrsan nodded. "As long as they refrain from undue noise."

"Do you think you could get me to the Stargate undetected?" Carson requested, feeling hope grow.

"Yes, easily but your friends are still here and the chances of happening upon them is near nothing at best." Gerrsan responded.

"My people have technology that could find them, I just have to get them since they don't know where we are." Carson explained. "Once I contact them we will be able to find my people and yours."

Gerrsan took a moment to think about it before he nodded slowly. "Alright. I'll send a few men with you to guide the way. You'll have to wear specialized clothing for traveling in the mist."

"Thank you." Carson said, heartfelt. He would wear any sort of wacky clothing he needed to in order to find his friends.

* * *

**Well, I finally know where Carson is going! Yay! And thank you beta Amycat8733 for your general awesomeness. ;) Review please?  
**


	14. Mistwalk

After the rope lost its baggage, and the Nuhrians landed landing in a heap, Hakes ordered the group to follow and they set off to the right of along the edge of the cliff at a brisk pace.

"Can we climb down that cliff?" Evan whispered to Jamin.

Jamin shook his head. "That would be a very bad idea. This mist takes some time to gather but when it does it will be too thick to see much of anything. If we attempt to climb down the cliff chances are we would be enveloped in it before we got halfway."

"Can we wait it out?" Evan questioned quietly as he kept an eye on the troop of Nuhrians.

"No. It could be anywhere from three days to a month, not to mention we don't have any of the tools we'll need to survive in it. We can't make it back to the base in time either." Jamin responded.

Groaning Evan said, "I guess our only choice is to follow them."

"Yes, it should be easy to hide as long as we are quiet."

* * *

It was impossible to know how long he was out but John guessed it was less than a minute. His body stung where he had impacted the water and he was eternally grateful for the fact that the lake held still water, he wouldn't have been able to handle a current.

Paynin was some thirty feet away from him but swimming toward him. "We made it, Colonel." He stated, more out of disbelief than informing John of their living state.

"Yeah." John coughed up some water he had swallowed and asked. "Which way?"

The two managed to reach the shoreline after about a half hour and drag themselves onto the grassy bank. As he violently coughed, John was fairly certain he had breathed in half the lake. Beside him, Paynin coughed a little more gently before rolling onto his back.

For his part John took a blissful moment to lay motionless on the soft grass and was glad for the lack of rock. He knew he needed to get up and dress his shoulder wound and his hands, both of which he had studiously ignored, but he was content to lie on the ground for now. His body was reminding him that he was still recovering from Mortifero Morbo and that he was not quite up to his original endurance.

A whispered "Oh no" made John open his eyes and at last roll onto his back. "What is it?"

"The mist." Paynin uttered.

"The what?" John followed Paynin's gaze to the cliff they had so recently jumped spent the nightabandoned. Along the entire edge of the cliff was a gray mist that was getting thicker by the moment. While John and Paynin watched, the blackness teetered at the drop-off as if unsure of whether not it wanted to go. Suddenly, it began to spill over the sides, running down slowly like paint being allowed to slide down the wall without trying to spread it around or wax melting down the outside of a candle.

"We need to get out of here." Paynin announced, pushing himself to his feet and walking over to John.

"Why?" John questioned, accepting Paynin's hand and letting the other man pull him off the ground. "There aren't any creepy mist-monsters, are there?"

"No." Paynin shook his head and steadied John until he could regain his balance. "But it can last for more than a few days and it will be so thick we won't be able to see much. And we do not have the supplies to last without hunting."

Nodding his understanding John asked, "Is there any place we can go that's nearby?"

"I think," Paynin responded, "that there is a cave with Ancestor technology not far from here."

"In what direction?" John questioned.

"Uhm..." Paynin bit his lip, and running a hand through his light brown hair he guessed, pointing away from the lake. "I think... it's that way."

"We've already established that you're geographically challenged, so I'm going to ask you, are you sure?" John queried.

Shrugging abashedly Paynin confirmed, "I'm relatively sure. But I never was good with directions."

"Well. I suppose this direction is as good as any." John gave in and he started shuffling in the way Paynin had specified.

"Hopefully." Paynin said, taking up stride position next to John. "When we get back to my base you can join the group they've created for people who have run into trouble because they followed my directions."

* * *

Fiddling with the strangely textured gray clothing Carson waited for Commander Gerrsan. Someone had explained to him that the texture was made to look like the mist itself for an easier blend into the gray mist. As he had been told, the clothing would make making him nearly impossible to see unless someone was _really _looking for him. Even then he would be difficult to see, the only way to truly know he was there was to touch him.

"Dr. Beckett."

Carson looked up at the door as he heard Gerrsan say his name. "Commander. Are we ready to leave?"

Nodding Gerrsan walked further inside the little tent to make room for three other people. "This is Captain Hemdan." Gerrsan introduced the tall, blonde officer who nodded in greeting. "He will be leading your company since he has traveled through the mist many times before. Sergeant Lanon and Sergeant Reelen will also accompany you."

Lanon, who was short with pepper colored hair and gray eyes, also nodded in greeting and Reelen, similar in appearance, gave a respectful, "Dr. Beckett."

Gerrsan spoke again, "I understand your people do not wish to take sides in a civil war as you have already explained to me. But I must warn you, the Nuhrians have no quarrel with using your people for their own gain and I must implore you to help in any way you can."

"As soon as I get back home I will talk t' my leader about helping yer people." Carson assured. "I can't promise my superiors will but in the very least we'll get yer officers back t' ye when we find our own."

Gerrsan nodded, "Thank you. Now, you must leave. I wish you well." Then he left, walking out into the misty outdoors.

Carson took a deep breath and pulled the gray hood over his head. It covered his whole head except for his eyes; in that spot was thin screening.

"Come, Dr. Beckett. Let's get you back to your people." Hemdan urged and lead the way out the door.

Lanon and Reelen waited until Carson walked out before following the doctor into the mist.

* * *

Hakes growled in frustration at the Lantean and the Luhrian's escape. The Nuhrian honestly hadn't expected them to jump, nor had he thought they would find a way to survive the fall. Now he was in quite the predicament. Did he stay, try to follow Colonel Sheppard, or return to the city? If he stayed, he might be able to pick up his enemy's trail. but if If he tried to follow he might be able to keep up with them or even capture them, but he ran the risk of losing his way completely. If he returned to the city he would be able to bring more manpower into the search and have a fresh start when the mist disappeared but he that would give Colonel Sheppard a head start and time to hide. After spending a good deal of time thinking, Hakes made his decision. He would head back.

* * *

**I'm back! Well, love it? Hate it? Want to tell me? :D Pretty please!**


	15. Travel

Besides the Nuhrians, moving quietly was Evan and Jamin's only other enemy and it was easily conquered. It turned out that they weren't more than a day's march back to the Nuhrians camp, as predicted by Jamin. However, the camp ground was quiet and empty. The group being followed trudged on through the camp toward a fortress of a city, which was another half day walk.

The stalkers had enough food on them to keep them from need, though it still left them in want. Jamin halted their movements when they saw crudely made cabins that surrounded the city.

"Do your radio's work in this mist?" Evan asked in a hushed tone.

"Most of the time," Jamin whispered back. "But I already tried my radio, it doesn't work."

Frowning, Evan demanded, "And you didn't think to mention this before?"

Jamin looked at least partly apologetic. "Sorry. We have long had suspicions that the Nuhrians have a device capable of restricting our radio waves. We should go in and find out if that is true and, if so, how to stop it."

"We?" Evan echoed uncertainly.

"Unless you would like to stay here by yourself, yes, 'we,'" Jamin said.

"I'm coming."

"Thought so."

* * *

John winced as Paynin's makeshift amateur bandaging skills pulled at the ragged edges of his bloody rope burn. Fortunately the alien soldier had a few field bandages as well as an ointment that supposedly helped but it stung like several bees all at once. Quickly Paynin finished securing the bandage and sat back on his heels.

"I should look at your shoulder, too," Paynin suggested.

Grimacing, John denied, "Thanks, but I think I'll pass."

"I should," Paynin insisted. "It could get infected, if it isn't already."

"Not if you're going to use that 'miracle' ointment of yours, thank you very much." John grimaced.

"That 'miracle ointment' is gonna keep you from dieingdying of fever. But it needs to be _applied_ first," Paynin emphasized. "It should help the skin and bones heal, too."

"Oh, so it's your all-purpose magic lotion and you couldn't at least take away the sting?" John snapped irritably.

With more patience than some would've had in his situation, Paynin replied, "No, we harvest the plant and it takes a long careful process to make it into the ointment that is going to save your life if you let it."

John scowled at Paynin, "How important is the rank 'captain' to your people?"

Snorting, Paynin contended, "That doesn't matter. You're from an entirely different planet so I can't be your subordinate." Without waiting further for consent, Paynin leaned forward and tugged the edge of John's gray jacket away from his shoulder.

Though he still frowned, John allowed Paynin to examine his wound. When the dried blood that was attached to his skin was ripped away from his shoulder, John flinched but managed to keep in any verbal response.

Squinting closely at the wound, Paynin decided better to be safe than to be sorry and grabbed the bottle of ointment. Carefully he stretched the neck of John's black T-shirt down his shoulder, ripping several stitches in the process, to show how far the ugly bite wound extended. The _gred's_ teeth had sunk in a painful depth, but nothing life threatening. However, because of the few moments when it had hung only by its jaws, the _gred_ had torn the muscle though. Paynin took his time in bandaging the ragged wound, mindful of the pain he was no doubt causing.

Because it felt as if the injury had frayed his nerves to the point where touching it more pain than there should have been, John tried focusing on anything but his shoulder. His eyes found a strangely designed pendant that had gotten loose of Paynin's shirt and was swinging slightly at the end of a long silver chain out into the sun and then back under into Paynin's shadow. John latched his eyes onto its hypnotic swaying and frowned as he noticed something familiar about it. When Paynin finished, John was still staring at it.

"Colonel?" Paynin snapped his fingers in front of the other man's face to get his attention. "You still in there?"

Snapping out of his reverie, John inquired, "Captain, what is that?"

Confused, Paynin looked down at the place John was looking. Clarity showed when he saw the pendant was free of his shirt. "It was my mother's. She said it once belonged to an Ancestor and that it brings good luck now because the Ancestors look after the carrier. She gave it to me to keep me safe," Paynin explained. Truthfully he was a little embarrassed about the story,story; his mother had been rather fretful when he'd left to join the rebel cause.

However, to Paynin's relief, John didn't focus on the part about his mother and instead echoed slowly, "Ancestor?"

"Yes, that's what she said. I don't know if it's true or not but it's been with my family for generations," Paynin said.

At last dragging his eyes up to Paynin's face, John raised his brows and questioned, "May I ask why it's glowing?"

His own brow creasing in response, Paynin looked down again. He didn't think it was glowing. Wait... Paynin took hold of it and cupped the silver circle in his hands to block out the sun. And indeed it was glowing. The shine was so dim that, in the sunlight, it was near impossible to notice.

"I'm pretty sure it never did that before," Paynin said.

Instead of speaking, John picked up the pendant. In response to the action, the circular pendant glowed visibly.

Paynin's eyes widened. "You have the blood of the Ancestors," he stated with awe.

Nodding, John dropped the pendant back into Paynin's hands. "But let's keep that to ourselves, huh?"

In agreement, Paynin told him, "You're right, I can see Hakes having a party over a little fact like that."

Something in the tone of his voice made John ask, "You know him very well?"

"You could say that. We're probably what you could call archenemies," Paynin answered bitterly.

John nodded in understanding. "Had one of those, too."

Uncomfortably, Paynin moved from kneeling to sitting and let out a weary sigh. "What is his name?"

"His name _was_ Acastus Kolya," John corrected.

"Genii?"

"Yeah. But I thought your people didn't get out much, how did you know?"

"Most of us don't," Paynin told his companion, settling back on the grass. "But a few of us have managed to stowaway and learn about the goings on of the rest of the galaxy. I used to be one of those people until I met Hakes. Now they all know my face."

John frowned. "Then wasn't it dangerous for you to be lead your last mission into their camp?"

"Only as dangerous as it was for the rest of them. Besides, I won't do anyone any good if I stayed back on base all the time." Raising his eyes to the cliff, Paynin saw the mist continuing to pour over the top and spread further over the lake. "We should get moving if we want to reach the cave ahead of the mist."

Grunting as he pulled himself to his feet, Paynin offered his hand to John for support. The other man reached for it before they both realized that would be a bad idea due to their injured hands. The actions did bring slight smiles to their face though.

John used the arm of his uninjured shoulder to push against the tree he had been resting against. Surprisingly, he made it into a standing position without losing his balance and crashing to the ground. A brief respite had to be just that; brief. John knew that. Nonetheless, his body complained that it had only begun to rest and recover during the too-short conversation. Also it told him that marching around was out of the question. Thankfully, John had experience in the area of ignoring body signals.

Concerned, Paynin asked, "Are you going to be alright?"

"I'll have to be," John said simply, shoving away from the tree. "Let's go."

* * *

Scowling at life in general, Hakes slammed the door of his rough cabin. It was one of many that surrounded the city and Hakes detested it. All Hakes desired was nothing more than to return home to his fiancé and sleep in his own bed. But now he needed to finish off the rebels and catch the evasive Lanteans.

Grabbing his radio, Hakes ordered, "Lt. Peres, get some men to guard the Ring."

"_Sir? But the mist is thick,"_ Peres objected.

"Just do it," growled Hakes. "You forget who we are dealing with."

* * *

Quiet followed Carson and his escort through the mist. At times it was hard to see but it was not too much of a problem because they met none of the enemy's forces. Even so, Hemdan kept a vigilant watch that night. Then they reached the camp of the enemy, barely noticing it until Lanon almost ran into one of the crude cabins.

"The Stargate should be near," Hemdan whispered. "Most likely, there are no guards stationed outside. The mist is too thick to see much out here anyway."

"And if guards _are_ stationed at the Stargate?" Carson questioned, going to wipe his sweaty palms on his pants before recognizing that his gloves prevented that.

Hemdan responded by cocking his weapon.

"Oh," was all Carson could say to that.

They started moving again, Hemdan leading the group with Carson and Lanon in the middle and Reelen covering the back. The three soldiers moved as quietly as they could sleep while Carson focused all of his brain power on not creating sound. Suddenly, Carson felt a hand on his arm. Looking up from the ground, Carson saw the other three men had their eyes riveted on the vague silhouette of a man a few feet ahead of them.

As the soldiers made a wall in front of him and aimed their weapons, Carson swallowed hard.

Apparently they **were** guarding the Stargate.

Hemdan slowly lined up his gun with his target while Carson cringed, waiting for the bang that would alert everyone to their presence.

Yet it never came. Instead the bullet left the chamber with a soft _twoop_.

From then on everything was blurry for Carson. He remembered the silhouette crumpling to the ground but then it seemed a dozen more took his place.

Hemdan and Reelen had started shooting quickly while Lanon snagged the doctor's sleeve and pulled him in what the soldier hoped was the direction of the DHD.

More and more silhouettes were converging after their comrades fall and the bullets, though off-target because of the mist, were whizzing by too close for comfort. Not that there was anything comfortable about being shot at. Lanon had to release Carson to shoot back.

Unsure of which way to go, Carson staggered blindly away from the enemy soldiers. By pure chance, Carson stumbled into the DHD. Fumbling, Carson searched for the correct symbols in the dark and, when he found them, pressed them harder than necessary. Finally Carson pounded his palm against the blue 'button' in the center.

_Kawoosh._ The Stargate made itself known about a hundred feet ahead of Carson, forcing aside the mist.

Carson took a moment to stare at the most beautiful sight he'd seen in the last four days before he remembered his escort. Whipping around, Carson saw the Hemdan, Lanon, and Reelen being forced back by the large force of Nuhrians.

"It's open!" Carson shouted at them, digging his GDO out of his pocket with uncoordinated fingers.

Hemdan glanced behind him and back at the opposing force. They were circling around to surround them which meant that time was going from short to nonexistent. "Go!"

"What?! No!" Carson smashed the 'enter' button down as he saw that the enemy was closing in.

"GO NOW!" Hemdan yelled and took three steps back with Reelen and Lanon, continuing to fire.

Knowing that he had no other choice but still hating that he had to do it, Carson bolted for the Stargate. It was the longest three seconds of his life going from the DHD to the shimmering event horizon. As he was about to step through he looked behind him and saw one of the defenders fall to the ground. It caused him to blunder and he fell through the Gate, landing on his hands and knees on a familiar, smooth blue floor.

_Carson!_

* * *

**Okay, so things have actually been planned out (I'm turning over a new leaf) and, shocker, I have most of the next chapter already written! And big, big thanks to Amycat8733 for the quick beta to catch mistakes that I float over during the writing process and for her encouragement :)  
**

**Review, if you please? Just saying, you might get faster updates...**


	16. Talk

Despite the fact that the Ring patrol had roused him only a minute ago, Hakes was awake and alert; it came along with being a soldier. Hurriedly the Nuhrian commander strapped on his pistol and opened his door. The reason was that Ring patrol had caught three Luhrians attempting to leave the planet and they reported that a fourth had made it through the portal.

Without hesitation, Hakes ordered the captives brought into the city. Under no circumstances would he allow any room for escape or rescue, he'd already made that mistake before. Now he was proceeding to go and meet them at the underground prison below the center of the city.

Because of the early hour, people had not yet begun to grace the streets with their presence so Hakes encountered no traffic as he made his way through the mist infested streets. The city being walled in, the mist was thinner but it still made life difficult and vision hazy.

Eventually, Hakes reached the Emperor's fortress-in-a-fortress and made his way downwards until he reached the cells underneath.

"Commander!" Lt. Peres straightened and snapped his right fist to his left shoulder.

"Stand," Hakes told him dismissively and his subordinate relaxed. "Where is the third one?"

"In the hospital, sir. He was shot in the shoulder," Peres reported.

Hakes nodded, knowing that he would be well guarded. Fixing his eyes on the occupants of the cell in front of him, Hakes considered what to say. Resolving to start at the beginning, Hakes questioned, "What were you doing at the Ring?"

The one who sat on the bench looked up at the one who was leaning against the bars. The standing prisoner stared at Hakes, saying nothing.

Hakes easily deciphered the signals; the one standing was in charge while the one sitting was the subordinate.

"You do realize the pain you are in for should you refuse to speak, don't you?" Hakes threatened in a light tone.

The two men exchanged looks again before the subordinate responded, "Trying to leave."

Well, that was fairly obvious. Next question. "Who got through and where did he go?"

Again they conferred through facial expressions, clearly wondering how detrimental it would be if they told him. This time the leader answered, slowly and warily, "Dr. Beckett, and I would assume he went back to whatever planet the Lanteans evacuated to after the Wraith destroyed Atlantis."

Hakes took the information in, that meant that he still had two Lanteans on his planet and that they would come back for those two. He had suspected as much anyway. It was unfortunate that Dr. Beckett had escaped the his planet and his revenge but the doctor wasn't of any practical use anymore.

Now, down to the more important questions that would be a little more difficult to glean the answers to. Hakes stepped forward and grinned, dark and menacing. "Where is the Rebellion's camp?"

* * *

"So," Evan began in a low tone, "do you know where this device is or do you intend to just wander around the enemy fortress 'til you find it?"

Jamin had led them into an abandoned house (at least, Evan hoped it was abandoned) and begun rummaging through some crates. Finding what he was looking for, Jamin pulled out a neatly folded pile of grey fabric. As he stood up Jamin answered his companion, "We are going to do a little spying."

"Won't the location of this device be a very closely guarded secret?" Evan queried, instantly putting together what the fabric was and what it was for.

Jamin handed Evan half the pile. "Of course, which is why we will be going in as Nuhrian soldiers. It's the only way to get into the Emperor's fortress."

Shaking the dust out of the dull gray uniform, Evan told him, "Well, first order of business is to tell me how exactly you all act here."

Jamin nodded. "It should not be much different than the way you act as a soldier. Some things seem to stay the same throughout the galaxy." Placing his fisted hand against his left shoulder, Jamin began. "This is the traditional Uhrian salute to a dominant officer. Stand means to stand relaxed. 'Surely, sir' is the proper response to any order from a dominant officer. The rest of the time, just follow my lead... Lieutenant."

Evan grimaced, a few unpleasant memories of being a lieutenant surfacing. "Lovely."

"Good, now get changed. We have a machine to find."

* * *

For once, it seemed, Paynin's directions weren't completely misguided.

The mist was grasping at their trail when the slim entrance of the cave came into view. Paynin slipped through the crevice first and John followed close behind. A narrow tunnel extended from the opening that the two men inched through. It took some time because it was utterly dark and they had to feel their way along the wall, taking careful steps, to move forward. Soon enough their eyes adjusted to the much darker interior of the cave that was supposedly peppered with Ancient technology. Finally the tunnel opened up into the larger main cave.

"That tunnel should keep the majority of the mist out," remarked Paynin.

"What about food?" John asked.

Rolling his shoulders to hopefully rid himself of stiffness, Paynin said, "A rodent called _spec'muris_ that lives in caves and is relatively easy to catch and cook."

"Relatively?" John echoed, squinting to see the rest of the cavern that was empty of light.

"Well, we are injured," Paynin reminded. "Usually it _is_ easy but with our little handicaps..."

"I get it."

_Crunch._

The sound was muted but it was enough for both military men to hear. John and Paynin froze, waiting to hear more indicators of movement. Then a large rodent, a _spec'muris_, scurried across the ground in front of the two men.

"This cave is abandoned... right?" John would have believed that the _spec'muris_ had made the noise, being a mindless animal except something that small didn't exactly match the sound he'd heard.

Paynin, who had lost his pistol somewhere during the fall over the cliff, leaned down and pulled a knife out of his boot. Quietly, he admitted, "Truthfully, we don't know much about these caves. Just that they have bits of useless Ancestor technology."

Soft whispers floated passed the two experience soldier's ears. Footsteps. Bare feet. Human feet. Close human feet. If people lived in these caves they would have a significant advantage over the two broken, bleeding, and light-oriented visitors.

On the back of his neck John's hairs were rising and his gut twisted. John's hair was rising on the back of his neck, his gut twisting along with it. Instinct urged him to turn around and, having learned long ago to listen, John did a 180, coming face to face with a finely pointed spearhead. His eyes followed the dark outline of the shaft to the even darker outline of a person.

The person holding a spear at his throat had face paint dotted in a strange and no doubt meaningful pattern. Against the darkness, the whites of his eyes stood out unnaturally, giving the man an eerie look.

"Um... hi," John greeted and, even to his own ears, that sounded lame.

The spear pressed a little closer and John jerked back reflexively, raising his hands in what he hoped was a none-threatening way. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Take it easy!" Squinting to his right, John vaguely saw Paynin in a similar predicament. John wondered how much better these people could see in the dark; probably a few times better than he could.

"Trespassers!" the stranger holding the spear at John hissed loudly. Then he shoved his deadly sharp spear forward.

John barely registered it in time to sidestep the blow and grabbed hold of the spear shaft. He went no further for fear of the unknown number of hostiles skulking in the darkness where he could not see. "Wait! We don't mean you any harm!" insisted John.

"Trespassers die!" this time the voice came from the caveman aiming a spear at Paynin.

Backing up hastily, Paynin tried to explain, "We were only seeking shelter from the mist. We can leave!"

By their silence, John guessed that the men weren't buying it. Briefly he wondered why they were hesitating. Perhaps only two of them were guarding the entrance? If that was true, Paynin and he might – and he stressed the might – be able to take their enemies down. Had they been in top physical shape it wouldn't have been a controversial decision. But that wasn't the case.

Then they heard the sounds of running footsteps that made no effort to be quiet themselves. Well, that answered that question.

Thinking quickly, John turned toward Paynin and held out his hand. "Captain, give me the pendant." This was either going to kill them or save them but, seeing as how the hostiles were going to kill them anyway, he didn't think they had much of anything to lose.

Though the other man was probably confused, he obeyed instantly, quickly unclasping the chain and thrusting it into John's outstretched hand.

As more cavemen surrounded them, the pendant began to glow in John's hand, just as it had before. Holding up the Ancient device by its chain so that everyone could see it clearly, John hoped to heaven that these were _not_ men from an Ancient-hating civilization. Though they were not as common as Ancient-loving ones, they still existed.

They were in luck.

Gasps of awe echoed around the cavern and the spears were withdrawn. Whispers of broken English reached the two outsiders' ears but they weren't clear enough for them to understand.

Evidently they concluded that, at least for now, John and Paynin were to live.

Four cavemen surged forward, grasping the prisoners' forearms and roughly led them deeper into the endless network of tunnels.

At least they weren't dead yet.

* * *

Alongside his own ease, Carson felt Atlantis figuratively sigh in relief as well. _I'm alright, lass,_ Carson assured her before she asked.

As the Stargate shut down, Carson heard his name called, "Carson!"

The doctor looked up and saw Elizabeth Weir speedily crossing the gate room floor. She knelt next to him and placed her hand worriedly on his arm. "Carson, are you okay?"

"Aye," Carson replied, pushing his body up off his hands. "I'm none the worse for wear, Elizabeth."

A big hand, obviously Ronon's, came into Carson's line of sight, offering assistance. Carson took the hand and allowed the stronger man to pull him to his feet.

Rodney and Teyla were arriving, too, hurrying up the stairs and toward the other three.

"Where's Sheppard?" Rodney demanded as soon as he was within five feet of Carson.

"And Major Lorne?" Teyla added in a more polite tone.

"I don't know exactly," Carson admitted. "But we can find them. First I'll need to fill you in on some things."

"Briefing room," Elizabeth ordered and the four others followed her up the staircase.

There Carson launched into an explanation of the last three days, detailing the administration of the cure, the escape/rescue, and the rebellion that was in successful forward motion.

When he finished, Teyla said, "So the illness is not a danger to John anymore."

Carson nodded. "But there's no telling what's happened to the colonel and the major since then."

Elizabeth smiled knowingly. "I'm assuming that means you want to join the extraction team?"

"Aye," confirmed Carson. "They could be injured."

"Rodney?" Elizabeth prompted.

Rodney caught on, realizing that the expedition leader wanted him to tell Carson about their own visit to the planet. "We tried going to that planet but we couldn't detect any transmitters."

Frowning, Carson said, "Well, that will make things more difficult but I'm sure the Rebellion will be willing to help. Especially because two of their own men are missing along with Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne."

"What are we waiting for, then?" Ronon asked, pushing away from the wall.

Standing up from his chair, Carson responded, "Just for me to get my medical supplies."

_And something to eat,_ Atlantis asserted firmly.

Elizabeth nodded, "One hour, I'll alert Major Turner's team."

Carson rushed down to the infirmary and began to gather his supplies. He had only just begun to place things in his bag when Atlantis prodded, _Carson, Dr. Cole can get everything ready while you eat something._

_Atlantis, lass, this is important. Why don't ye ever pick on the Colonel like this?_ Carson tried to distract the city while he tucked a vial of morphine into the bag.

_I do,_ Atlantis replied. _Why do think he survives outside your infirmary?_

Sighing, Carson called Dr. Cole over the radio. "Maggie, luv, can ye come and help me get my things together?"

"Of course, Carson," Dr. Cole responded and walked into the room.

Carson shook his head, smiling. "Ye were just waiting for me t' call, weren't ye?"

The other doctor grinned. "I have it covered, Doctor Beckett."

"Thank ye, luv," Carson said.

"No problem."

Carson finally gave into Atlantis' pushing and headed for the mess hall, realizing on route how hungry he was. Despite his worry, Carson managed to down two whole sandwiches before it was time to leave. He then grabbed his bag from the infirmary, thanking Dr. Cole, and headed to the Jumper Bay.

_Good luck, Carson,_ Atlantis told him. _Bring them home._

_You can bet on it, lass._ Carson only hoped that statement was true.

* * *

**So, surprise! Here's another chapter for ya'll. And... review? It makes me type faster, really! I see a review and it's like adrenaline, it just makes me vibrate. And then my fingers go faster! :D**


	17. Deeper

Evan followed Jamin purposefully down the dark halls, looking for all the world like he knew exactly where he was going. They had stopped by the mess hall, or whatever the Nuhrians called it, and listened inconspicuously to the surrounding conversations, waiting for any indication of the machine's location. It hadn't come. What _had_ come was a different kind of news.

"Have you heard about the three prisoners?" one officer questioned his friend casually.

"You mean the three Lanteans that escaped?" his friend asked, taking a bite of something that looked and smelled like pasta but did _not_ taste like pasta.

"No, no. The Luhrians that tried to leave the planet through the Stargate," clarified the first officer.

Jamin stiffened and looked subtly over Evan's shoulder at the men, wondering why the Luhrians had made such a decision.

"Really? In this mist? You can hardly see two steps in front of you out there!" the other one protested dubiously.

"Apparently, the Luhrians have been sneaking around in the mist more than we originally thought. They had on some kind of gray outfit. And there were four of them; I heard Dr. Beckett got off the planet though."

Thanking the powers that be for gossip's existence everywhere, Evan took a slow bite of the disgusting not-pasta. Beckett getting away equaled a rescue on the way plus one less person to worry about.

"So there's only two Lanteans left to find?"

The first man's response was slow in coming.

Evan wondered if they had got up and left while Jamin didn't look at them so that the officers wouldn't know the two intruders had been listening.

"No, just one."

* * *

Frustration. It seemed that it clouded Hakes' days continuously, making each day's work painstakingly hard. The two Luhrian soldiers refused to reveal their base's location no matter what the Nuhrians did. The third soldier, the one in the hospital, had also proved to be as stubborn as every other Luhrian rebel Hakes had yet had the displeasure of dealing with.

When Hakes' radio crackled to life and Lt. Peres once again requested his attention, he nearly tossed the thing to the other side of the room. He refrained, barely, and growled harshly into the radio. "What?"

Unfazed, Peres reported, "Sir, we have one of the Lanteans and a Luhrian inside the fortress."

Hakes forgot his earlier frustration for astonishment. Inside! How?

"_We are in pursuit," _Peres continued._"They are heading away from the dining hall."_

"I'll be there soon." Hakes grabbed his sidearm and jogged out of the room.

* * *

In hushed whispers, the cavemen conversed apprehensively. They crowded around their captives, forcing them forward through the maze of tunnels.

For John, the experience was suffocating. Heated bodies pressed around him and Paynin, pushing them forward in an indiscernible direction. The world around him blended in perfectly with everything else so that he had no idea of where they were going or if his face was about to meet a wall. The whole affair was rather disconcerting, especially at the speed they were shoving him along. At some point, he'd been relieved of the pendant and John couldn't help but wonder what it could mean.

Sometime later, the jostling stopped and the stifling warmth receded. Then a pair of hands shoved him to the cold stone floor and John heard Paynin grunt as, presumably, the same treatment was afforded him.

When the soft patter of feet disappeared, John whispered, "You alright, Captain?"

"Yeah, I think so," Paynin answered.

Wincing at his stinging, burning hands, John sat back. Even though they had been in the caves for at least a half hour, likely more, John could barely distinguish an outline of Paynin. Their captors would have no need of watching them too carefully (assuming they could see well enough in the dark caves) if their eyes continued to refuse adjustment to the darkness.

"I don't suppose you know anything about cavemen?" John tried, holding his injured hands close to his body and ignoring the fiery sensation.

"We thought these caves were empty, but no one has given them much attention." It sounded like Paynin was speaking through gritted teeth, suggesting that his own hands were in no better shape.

"Wonderful," John groaned. He wanted nothing more than to curl up in his bed and sleep for a week, preferably doped up, too.

"There's a wall over here," Paynin informed him, a scuffling sound accompanying his movements.

A moment later, John felt a hand gently tap his unharmed shoulder. Paynin hooked his arm under John's to avoid using his own hands and helped the other man to his feet. Cautiously, they took five steps to their right until they met the wall.

Sinking down gratefully, John rested his head against the rough stone wall while Paynin sat next to him a foot away.

"Hey! Colonel!"

John was suddenly startled by the hand shaking his shoulder. Confused about why Paynin's tone sounded so worried, John asked, "What?" A relieved sigh from Paynin only added to his confusion.

"I lost you for a minute," Paynin explained. Then he stated, "We've been against the wall for half an hour."

"What? No we haven't, we just sat down," John protested immediately. "Didn't we?"

Another sigh. "No, Colonel, we didn't. I should've thought of this."

"Thought of what?" John demanded, perplexed. How had he lost so much time? He had only just sat down!

"The plant that the ointment is made from has a chemical similar to a sedative," Paynin said. "Most people are immune to it because we've used it all our lives, which is why I didn't think of it, but you've never used it before. Plus you're not fully recovered..."

"Not fully recovered?" John parroted, frowning. "It's been – "

Paynin cut in before John had added up just how long it had been, " – Less than two days."

Oh. It felt longer.

"Like it or not, you aren't completely better. That and the chemical..." Paynin trailed off, unsure. "Well, in our current situation …"

"It's very bad," John finished or him. "Is there anything you can do?"

"No. Let's just hope that, whatever happens, happens when you're awake."

"I don't think Lady Luck likes me that much."

* * *

"Are ye getting anything, Rodney?" Carson questioned a moment after they exited the Stargate.

"Nothing." Rodney, who was in the pilot's seat continued to press buttons that Carson was sure meant something, but he hadn't a clue.

"Perhaps the problem is on our end?" Teyla suggested from her seat behind Carson, who sat in the copilot's chair.

Studying the HUD, Rodney shook his head. "No, we aren't the problem."

"Then what is?" demanded Ronon. He had chosen to stand, preferring to be ready at a moment's notice to rescue their missing friends.

"I don't know yet," Rodney said. "But something's running interference. I'm not getting any readings but this jamming signal. And don't ask me what that something is because if I knew I would've told you."

Ronon shared a long-suffering look with Major Turner. In the back of the Jumper Turner and his team were also standing, ready for action.

"D'you think that the mist might have something t' do with it?" Carson asked.

Shaking his head, Rodney negated, "This doesn't look natural."

"It's probably one of the sides trying to cripple the other," Turner offered.

"That still does not help us locate Major Lorne or Colonel Sheppard," reminded Teyla.

"Then we should look for the rebel camp," Carson said.

"How could we possibly find a camp in this mist?" Rodney objected.

"We must at least try," Teyla said firmly.

Sighing in a way only he could, Rodney began to sweep over the trees while they looked for any indication of human life.

Carson had to admit, the odds of finding anyone in the thick mist coating the ground seemed pretty hopeless. But they had to try. Carson could not and would not give up hope on Major Lorne or Colonel Sheppard. After all, he'd made Atlantis a promise, and he would hate to find out what she would do should he return without them.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you, thank you to me beta Amycat8733 for making it less painful to read. Now, here's the deal. This story has evolved to the point where it's no longer about Mortifero Morbo. Hence, I am changing the title to "Uhria"**

**Review please? They make me smile really big. Well, maybe grin maniacally is more accurate...**


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